Personal Life
Nichols' brother, Thomas, was a member of the Heaven's Gate cult; he died on March 26, 1997, in their mass suicide which purposely coincided with the passing of the Hale-Bopp comet. A member for eleven years, he left an exit video saying "I'm the happiest person in the world."
Nichols' son is actor Kyle Johnson, who played the lead in Gordon Parks's The Learning Tree. Kyle is her son from her marriage to Foster Johnson in 1951, which was the same year she divorced him. She married again in 1968, but that marriage also was short-lived and ended in divorce.
In her autobiography, Nichols stated that she was involved in an extramarital affair with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry for several years in the 1960s. When Roddenberry's health was fading, Nichols co-wrote a song for him, titled Gene, that she performed at his funeral.
She is an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Robert A. Heinlein in part dedicated his 1982 novel Friday to her. She now lives in Woodland Hills, California. On June 8, 2010, Nichelle Nichols received an honorary degree from Los Angeles Mission College.
Read more about this topic: Nichelle Nichols
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