Jane Fonda is not only an acclaimed, two-time Academy Award-winning actress and physical
fitness guru of the ‘80s.
She's also been an advocate for women, the downtrodden, and veterans for decades.
Born in 1937 into Hollywood royalty, Fonda has constantly reinvented herself during her
extraordinary life…
"The lesson for me is that you just never know what’s in store, in life."
Here's a look at the stunning transformation of Jane Fonda — the living epitome of "been-there,
done-that."
"Oh, it feels good.
Stretch those shoulders, 5, 6, 7, 8"
Hard-knocks
As the daughter of acclaimed actor Henry Fonda, Jane seemed destined to follow in the footsteps
of her famous father.
Born Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda on December 21, 1937, in New York City, she attended boarding
school and Vassar College before dropping out, and jetting to Paris to study art.
Fonda’s father was reportedly cold and distant, and her mother committed suicide when Fonda
was only 12.
The stress led the budding actress to an eating disorder that she battled for years.
Fonda blamed her father for her bulimia.
She wrote in a 2016 essay, "My father would send my stepmother to tell me to lose weight
and wear longer skirts.
One of my stepmothers told me all the ways I'd have to change physically if I wanted
a boyfriend."
Her art later imitated life, in a scene she shot with her father in On Golden Pond in
1981:
"Maybe you and I should have the kind of relationship that we’re supposed to have."
"Well, what kind of relationship is that?"
"You know, like a father and a daughter."
Sex kitten
Fonda's youth and good looks landed her a series of films that earned her quite the
sexy reputation.
In fact, many saw Fonda as the American version of French bombshell, Brigitte Bardot.
But Fonda wasn't buying it.
She told Vanity Fair, "I'm nothing like Bardot, and she's nothing like me."
That didn’t matter.
Audiences wanted more.
What they got was 1968's sexy sci-fi hit, Barbarella.
"She makes science-fiction something else.
Jane Fonda is Barbarella."
Fonda later explained her unhappy feelings about her role in the iconic movie to 60 Minutes
saying,
"For a long time, I couldn't look at it.
I thought that it was politically incorrect, you know."
Eventually, she said she lightened up a bit:
"When they put me in that machine that was supposed to kill me by..by orgasm, instead
of being kind of scared, I should have gotten in and laughed."
Heating things up
Ironically, Fonda went on to marry the ex-husband of Brigitte Bardot, Roger Vadim, in 1965.
The marriage would last seven years and produce a daughter, Vanessa, in 1968.
It was Barbarella director Vadim who ignited Fonda’s sexuality and told her to really
work that "sex kitten" brand.
"Well if you simply must insist, I guess so."
She told Vanity Fair, "What Vadim gave me was huge.
He reawakened me sexually…There's no doubt that part of my attraction to him and his
life was because it was so different from the repressed style in which I had been raised."
OG activist
When her marriage with Vadim ended, Fonda returned to the states, and dove into political
activism.
"Our responsibility as Am..as Americans is to concern ourselves with what our country
is doing.
Daniel Ellsberg said, recently, 'we're not fighting on the wrong side we are the wrong
side.'"
In 1973, she married fellow activist and former California senator Tom Hayden.
They would eventually divorce in 1990, after producing a son, Troy.
Fonda worked tirelessly, opposing the Vietnam War and supporting the Civil Rights movement.
"Culturally, psychologically, economically, politically, gays and lesbians are discriminated
against."
But she was highly criticized for a trip to Hanoi, where she was photographed singing
a song with the North Vietnamese at a gun site — a move for which she later apologized…
"I take responsibility for the mistake that I made, the photograph that was taken of me
sitting on a gun.
It was a terrible, terrible thing."
Despite that mistake so many years ago, Fonda didn't stop, and she's still just as politically
vocal today...
"I guess the lesson is that we shouldn’t be fooled by good lookin liberals… no matter
how well-spoken they are."
Losing herself
In 1991, Fonda married CNN tycoon Ted Turner — a marriage that her adopted daughter,
Mary Williams, said "ate her alive," according to Williams' memoir, The Lost Daughter.
By the end of their troubled union, during which Ted would cheat with numerous women,
Fonda had become a fragile shell of her former self.
Williams wrote, "While Ted was his usual upbeat self, my mom was greatly diminished physically
and emotionally.
She'd lost a lot of weight from her already tiny frame.
Emotionally, she was shutting down."
"I remember when I was 62 and I had done something that was very, very, very very painful and
difficult.
I had left Ted Turner, my third husband, who I loved very, very much."
Giving back
Despite her relationship troubles, Fonda has found solace in giving back.
She's been very active with charitable organizations, focusing her energy in supporting youth and
education, adolescent reproductive health, the environment, human services, and the arts.
She founded several organizations, including the Jane Fonda Foundation, which she began
in 2004, with $1 million from her own pocket.
In the mid ‘90s, Fonda founded the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power & Potential
— the GCAPP.
At the time, Georgia led the nation with the highest rate of adolescent pregnancy, and
Fonda led the way in changing that.
#FITSPO
Fonda is sexy and fit, even in her 70s.
But that "fitspo" goes way back.
An aerobics guru in the ‘80s, her original workout video became the best-selling video
of the time.
"Back then, if a woman went to a health club, there’d be a gym for men, and nothing for
women."
Fonda’s been releasing popular workouts ever since.
In 2014, Fonda told Shape, "People are still doing them!
People have been doing the original workouts consistently for the past 30 years."
"I used to think that these were real puny, but, y’know I’m 79 years old.
What matters is, I use em"
Getting real about the work
Fonda’s come clean about the work she’s had done, telling The Guardian, "I wish I
were brave enough to not do plastic surgery, but I think I bought myself a decade."
"My skin is stronger, it’s repaired, firmer, incredibly radiant"
Fonda enjoys being a role model, and wants to inspire women as they age.
She told The Guardian, "I like helping younger women be less afraid of getting closer to
death...I'm very youthful.
I have passion.
I have curiosity.
I've always had a lot of energy.
I have a fake hip, knee, thumb — more metal in me than a bionic woman, but I can still
do Pilates."
No regrets
Fonda has lived quite a life.
But does she have regrets?
She told the Hollywood Reporter, "No.
Why waste time?
See, when you get older, you want to spend time thinking about what you're going to regret
between now and when you die.
So when you die, you have a minimum number of regrets."
Today, she stars with her friend, activist-actress, Lily Tomlin, on the Netflix series, Grace
and Frankie.
"Do we look like we’re senile and can’t remember anything?
Where is the car?"
And in what Fonda calls her "third act," the actress teaches others how to feel their very
best, no matter their age, in her book: Prime Time: Love, Health, Sex, Fitness, Friendship,
Spirit — Making the Most of All Your Life.
In it, she writes, "This book is for those of us who, like me, believe that luck is opportunity
meeting preparation: that with preparation and knowledge, with information and reflection,
we can try to raise the odds of being lucky, and of making our last three decades — our
Third Acts — the most peaceful, generous, loving, sensual, transcendent time of all."
"Thank you Mr. Dooley, next time you’re in New York, just call me up."
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