Michael Douglas says Jack Nicholson is "well" but has "disappeared" — and the entertainment press still can't stomach that an American might simply choose to be left alone.

Nicholson, 89, hasn't appeared on screen since 2010's How Do You Know. He never announced his retirement. He just stopped showing up. For an industry that treats access as entitlement, that's the unforgivable sin.

Speaking in Swansea, Wales while promoting his memoir, Douglas was asked about his old friend and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest collaborator. "He's not working any more. He's well. He has disappeared. I know that," Douglas said, according to People. "I still see him, but he is fine. He is up there by his house and walking around in his slippers. It happens. He deserves it. I understand. He is a few years older than me, but I understand."

Rolling Stone framed the update with a note that Nicholson "hasn't appeared on the big screen in 16 years" — as though absence from the screen is itself a condition requiring diagnosis. The Independent went further, calling it a "vanishing act" and citing film critic Geoffrey Macnab's description of Nicholson's "deserved (if unofficial) retirement." Macnab marveled that the actor once "spotted everywhere" is now nowhere — as if a man owes the public his presence.

The Independent did provide the most complete picture. Music producer Lou Adler told the WTF podcast that Nicholson now prefers "sitting under a tree and reading a book." Actress Carol Kane, who starred alongside Nicholson in the early 1970s, said she still checks in: "Not a lot, but we keep at it. I make sure to check in on him, and thank goodness he's still answering my calls." Asked if he's doing OK, Kane laughed: "Oh, he's still Jack."

Nicholson's daughter Lorraine shared a rare photo in April showing her father smiling with family and friends, including Joni Mitchell. One Instagram commenter wrote that they "appreciate the family sharing their Jack with all of us" — a telling phrase. The public treats Nicholson like a shared resource who's being withheld.

Here's what the coverage won't say straight: Nicholson doesn't owe anyone an explanation. A man who built a legendary career, won three Oscars, and defined American cinema for decades has every right to walk away without a press conference. The real story isn't why he disappeared. It's why the press corps acts like his privacy is a crime scene.

The man is reading books under a tree. Some might call that the American dream.