THE DEPARTED!

Jack Nicholson's sparks dementia bizarre behavior fears for icon, 86

AGING recluse Jack Nicholson has turned into a sloppy, sorrowful shadow of his former leading-man self — triggering the fears of pals and a medical expert the 86-year-old Something’s Gotta Give star is spiraling into a dementia nightmare!

Shocking April 13 photos — the first images of the beloved icon taken in nearly two years — show the three-time Oscar winner on a balcony looking a disheveled, unwashed mess while staring wildly into space.

The Shining actor has spiraled from Hollywood’s most famous bachelor to an overweight, out-of-shape hermit in recent years, and seemed to be twitching uncontrollably before using a handrail to lean on while standing up, according to witnesses.

Sources confide there are growing fears the homebound, 5-foot-10 Chinatown actor, who at one point smashed the scales at 360 pounds, is progressively losing his mental faculties and is on his last legs.

Florida-based Dr. Gabe Mirkin warns the One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest star “is loaded with risk factors for brain-savaging dementia” such as lack of a regular exercise program, a bulging belly, boozing, smoking and a variety of bed partners.