Josh Brolin opened up about his complicated relationship with his mother in his new memoir, From Under the Truck, sharing one unsettling trick she used to play on him involving wild animals.

The Oscar nominee grew up on a ranch in Paso Robles, California, with his younger brother, Jess.

Speaking about his upbringing with The Times, Josh described his mother, a Texas wildlife activist named Jane, as  “clownish, funny, eccentric” and “authentic.”

Josh Brolin’s mother used to make the wild animals at their family ranch chase after him and his younger brother, the actor revealed in his new memoir

Image credits: joshbrolin

Jane, who struggled with alcohol abuse, would often take her sons to bars, flirting with cowboys and truckers to persuade them to buy her drinks. The title of the memoir—out on Tuesday (November 19)—references an incident where Jane’s boyfriend drank so much that he passed out under a truck.

The Brolins kept several rescued wild animals on the ranch: bobcats, cougars, coyotes, wolves, and mountain lions. A traumatizing trick Jane pulled was to yell “Sic ’em,” to whatever wild beast was close by to make it chase after her sons.

Image credits: joshbrolin

“You knew if you didn’t get on the other side of that shut door within a couple of seconds, you’d be cleaning up fresh bloody marks somewhere on your body for the rest of the day,” Josh wrote in his book.

The actor, known for playing the villain Thanos in the Marvel movies, was made to get up before dawn to do chores around the ranch when he was eight.

“It was all about feeding horses and birthing foals. It was a lot of work,” the 56-year-old admitted, adding that he’d also deliver bales of hay to the horses and clean out the animals’ cages.

Josh grew up with his dad, actor James Brolin, and his mother, a wildlife activist named Jane, on a ranch in Paso Robles, California

Image credits: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Though Josh questioned his mother’s behavior, he still admired her strength. Now, he realizes that even the most difficult parts of his upbringing played a role in shaping the person he is today.

“She was a pain in the a**. I mean, there’s nobody who would contest that — nobody — but you don’t not want her around.”

Jane made “everything a little more powerful, a little more vivid.” He then added, “It’s just kind of falling into that place. Like, ‘Oh, you’re definitely your mother’s son.’”

Image credits: joshbrolin

The Milk star, son of actor James Brolin, found an escape from his reality through literature, realizing, “I don’t have to live in this all the time. I can be transported.” This also inspired him to write down his feelings and keep journals.

His life took a turn for the worse when he moved to Santa Barbara at age 11 and joined a surfing group who called themselves the Cito Rats, short for Montecito.

“If you didn’t get on the other side of that shut door within a couple of seconds, you’d be cleaning up fresh bloody marks somewhere on your body,” he wrote in his book

Image credits: joshbrolin

Composed of “children of rich, neglectful parents or children of poor,” the crew snorted cocaine and took heroin and LSD.

“I’d do [drugs] when somebody had it or I’d steal it,” Josh said. He would steal cars to pay for his drug use.

“The group of guys that I grew up with, 37 of them are dead. So I go, Yeah, there’s no real reason that I got to keep going, other than I just got lucky,” the actor told GQ in February 2024.

Image credits: joshbrolin

His parents divorced when he was 16. “My mom was going out with another truck driver and my dad was doing his thing, and it made perfect sense to me. I was, like, ‘Finally.’”

Jane died in a car crash in 1999 at age 55, which at the time seemed like a long life to Josh. “Back then I go, ‘Wow, she’s 55, she lived a nice long life.’ You know — it’s, like, it’s a bummer.”

After his parents’ divorce, Josh went to live with his father in Los Angeles. Looking to follow in his father’s footsteps and avoid going to prison, he created a resumé that “was 100 per cent bullsh*t” but that ultimately landed him a role in the 1985 adventure film The Goonies.

“When I started it was, like, ‘Oh, you’re Brolin’s son,’ but not in a good way. You know, this idea of nepotism and all that, it’s, like, ‘Oh no, there’s people out there that want you to not get the job.’”

Being on set, Josh felt like “a fish out of water.” The actor said he “ruined” the first half-day of filming of the cult film because he kept laughing out of nerves.

Josh went on to star in the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men, Ridley Scott’s American Gangster, the George W. Bush biopic W, and Milk, based on the life of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

People were shocked to learn about the trick Josh’s mother played on her young sons

Image credits: joshbrolin

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