Jane Fonda

Jane Seymour Fonda(born December 21, 1937) is an American actress and activist. Recognized as a film icon,Fonda's workspans several genres and over six decades of film and television. She is the recipient ofnumerous accolades,including twoAcademy Awards,twoBritish Academy Film Awards,sevenGolden Globe Awards,and aPrimetime Emmy Awardas well as nominations for aGrammy Awardand twoTony Awards.Fonda also received theHonorary Palme d'Orin 2007, theAFI Life Achievement Awardin 2014, and theCecil B. DeMille Awardin 2021.

Jane Fonda
Fonda in 2015
Born	Jane Seymour Fonda (1937-12-21)December 21, 1937 New York City, U.S.
Other names	Jane S. Plemiannikov
Education	Vassar College Actors Studio
Occupations	Actress activist
Years active	1959–present
Works	Full list
Political party	Democratic
Spouses	Roger Vadim ​ ​ (m.1965;div.1973)​ Tom Hayden ​ ​ (m.1973;div.1990)​ Ted Turner ​ ​ (m.1991;div.2001)​
Partner	Richard Perry(2009–2017)
Children	3, includingTroy GarityandMary Williams(de factoadopted)
Parents	Henry Fonda(father) Frances Ford Seymour(mother)
Relatives	Peter Fonda(brother) Bridget Fonda(niece)
Awards	Full list
Website	janefonda

Born to socialiteFrances Ford Seymourand actorHenry Fonda,she made her screen debut in the romantic comedyTall Story(1960). She rose to prominence acting in the comediesCat Ballou(1965),Barefoot in the Park(1967),Barbarella(1968),Fun with Dick and Jane(1977),California Suite(1978),The Electric Horseman(1979), and9 to 5(1980). Fonda established herself as a dramatic actress, winning twoAcademy Awards for Best Actressfor her roles as aprostitutein the thrillerKlute(1971) and the woman in love with aVietnam warveteran in the dramaComing Home(1978). She was Oscar-nominated forThey Shoot Horses, Don't They?(1969),Julia(1977),The China Syndrome(1979),On Golden Pond(1981), andThe Morning After(1986). After a 15 year hiatus, she returned to acting inMonster-in-Law(2005),Youth(2015), andOur Souls at Night(2017).

On stage, Fonda made herBroadwaydebut in the playThere Was a Little Girl(1960), for which she was nominated for theTony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.In 2009, she returned to Broadway for the play33 Variations(2009), earning aTony Award for Best Actress in a Playnomination. For her work on television, she won thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Limited Series or Moviefor the television filmThe Dollmaker(1984). She also was Emmy-nominated for her roles inThe Newsroom(2012–2014) andGrace and Frankie(2015–2022).

Fonda was a political activist in thecounterculture eraduring theVietnam War.She was photographed sitting on a North Vietnameseanti-aircraft gunon a 1972 visit toHanoi,during which she gained the nickname "Hanoi Jane". During this time, she was effectivelyblacklistedin Hollywood. Fonda protested theIraq Waralong with violence against women, and she describes herself as afeministand environmental activist.Fonda has co-founded theHollywood Women's Political Committeein 1984 and theWomen's Media Centerin 2005. Fonda is also known for her exercise tapes, starting withJane Fonda's Workout(1982), which became the highest-sellingvideotapeof its time.

Early life and education

Fonda aged five, with her father, actorHenry Fonda(1943)

Jane Seymour Fonda was born viacaesarean sectionon December 21, 1937, atDoctors Hospitalin New York City.Her parents were Canadian-born socialiteFrances Ford Seymourand American actorHenry Fonda.According to her father, the surname Fonda came from an Italian ancestor who immigrated to the Netherlands in the 1500s.There, he intermarried; the resultant family began to use Dutch given names, with Jane's first Fonda ancestor reaching New York in 1650.Fonda also has English, French, and Scottish ancestry. She was named for the third wife ofHenry VIII,Jane Seymour,to whom she is distantly related on her mother's side,and because of whom, until she was in fourth grade, Fonda said she was called "Lady" (as in Lady Jane).Her brother,Peter Fonda,was also an actor, and her maternal half-sister is Frances de Villers Brokaw (also known as "Pan" ), whose daughter is Pilar Corrias, the owner of thePilar CorriasGallery in London.

Jane, Henry andPeter Fondain July 1955

In 1950, when Fonda was 12, her mother died by suicide while undergoing treatment at Craig House psychiatric hospital inBeacon, New York.Later that year, Henry Fonda married socialiteSusan Blanchard,23 years his junior; this marriage ended in divorce. Aged 15, Jane taught dance atFire Island Pines, New York.Fonda attendedGreenwich AcademyinGreenwich, Connecticut;theEmma Willard SchoolinTroy, New York;andVassar CollegeinPoughkeepsie, New York.Before her acting career, she was amodeland appeared twice on the cover ofVogue.

Fonda became interested in the arts in 1954, while appearing with her father in a charity performance ofThe Country Girlat theOmaha Community Playhouse.After dropping out of Vassar, she went to Paris for six months to study art.Upon returning to the US, in 1958, she metLee Strasberg;the meeting changed the course of her life. Fonda said, "I went to theActors Studioand Lee Strasberg told me I had talent. Real talent. It was the first time that anyone, except my father – who had to say so – told me I was good. At anything. It was a turning point in my life. I went to bed thinking about acting. I woke up thinking about acting. It was like the roof had come off my life! "

Career

1959–1969: Early roles and breakthrough

Fonda as Eileen Tyler inSunday in New York,one of her earliest box office successes

Fonda's stage work in the late 1950s laid the foundation for her film career in the 1960s. She averaged almost two movies a year throughout the decade, starting in 1960 withTall Story,in which she recreated one of herBroadwayroles as a college cheerleader pursuing a basketball star, played byAnthony Perkins.Period of AdjustmentandWalk on the Wild Sidefollowed in 1962. InWalk on the Wild Side,Fonda played a prostitute and earned aGolden GlobeforMost Promising Newcomer.In 1963, she starred inSunday in New York.Newsdaycalled her "the loveliest and most gifted of all our new young actresses".However, she also had detractors – in the same year, theHarvard Lampoonnamed her the "Year's Worst Actress" forThe Chapman Report.Her next two pictures,Joy HouseandCircle of Love(both 1964), were made in France; with the latter, Fonda became one of the first American film stars to appear nude in a foreign movie.She was offered the coveted role of Lara inDoctor Zhivago,but turned it down because she didn't want to go on location for nine months.

Fonda's career breakthrough came withCat Ballou(1965), in which she played a schoolmarm-turned-outlaw. This comedyWesternreceived fiveOscarnominations, withLee Marvinwinning best actor, and was one of the year's top ten films at the box office. It was considered by many to have been the film that brought Fonda tobankablestardom. The following year, she had a starring role inThe ChaseoppositeRobert Redford,in their first film together, with two-time Oscar winnerMarlon Brando.The film received some positive reviews, but Fonda's performance was noticed byVarietymagazine: "Jane Fonda, as Redford's wife and the mistress of wealthy oilman James Fox, makes the most of the biggest female role."She returned to France to makeThe Game Is Over(1966), often described as her sexiest film, and appeared in the August 1966 issue ofPlayboy,in paparazzi shots taken on the set.Fonda immediately sued the magazine for publishing them without her consent.After this came the comediesAny Wednesday(1966), oppositeJason RobardsandDean Jones,andBarefoot in the Park(1967), again co-starring Redford.

This image of Fonda on an Italian beach became a classic pin-up poster.

In 1968, she played the title role in thescience fictionspoofBarbarella,which established her status as asex symbol.In contrast, the tragedyThey Shoot Horses, Don't They?(1969) won her critical acclaim and marked a significant turning point in her career;Varietywrote, "Fonda, as the unremittingly cynical loser, the tough and bruised babe of theDust Bowl,gives a dramatic performance that gives the film a personal focus and an emotionally gripping power. "In addition, renowned film criticPauline Kael,in herNew Yorkerreview of the film, noted of Fonda: "[She] has been a charming, witty nudie cutie in recent years and now gets a chance at an archetypal character. Fonda goes all the way with it, as screen actresses rarely do once they become stars. She doesn't try to save some ladylike part of herself, the way even a good actress likeAudrey Hepburndoes, peeping at us from behind 'vulgar' roles to assure us she's not really like that. Fonda stands a good chance of personifying American tensions and dominating our movies in the seventies asBette Davisdid in the thirties. "For her performance, she won theNew York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actressand earned her firstAcademy Awardsnomination forBest Actress.Fonda was very selective by the end of the decade, turning down lead roles inRosemary's BabyandBonnie and Clyde.

1970–1979: Widespread success and acclaim

In the seventies, Fonda enjoyed her most critically acclaimed period as an actress despite some setbacks for her ongoing activism. According to writer and criticHilton Als,her performances starting withThey Shoot Horses, Don't They?heralded a new kind of acting: for the first time, she was willing to alienate viewers, rather than try to win them over. Fonda's ability to continue to develop her talent is what sets her apart from many other performers of her generation.

Fonda won her firstAcademy Award for Best Actressin 1971, playing a high-pricedcall girl,thegamineBree Daniels, inAlan J. Pakula's neo-noir psychological thrillerKlute.Prior to shooting, Fonda spent time interviewing several prostitutes and madams. Years later, Fonda discovered that "there was like a marriage, a melding of souls between this character and me, this woman that I didn't think I could play because I didn't think I was call girl material. It didn't matter."Upon its release,Klutewas both a critical and commercial success, and Fonda's performance earned her widespread recognition. Pauline Kael wrote:

As an actress, [Fonda] has a special kind of smartness that takes the form of speed; she's always a little ahead of everybody, and this quicker beat – this quicker responsiveness – makes her more exciting to watch. This quality works to great advantage in her full-scale, definitive portrait of a call girl inKlute.It's a good, big role for her, and she disappears into Bree, the call girl, so totally that her performance is very pure – unadorned by "acting". She never stands outside Bree, she gives herself over to the role, and yet she isn't lost in it—she's fully in control, and her means are extraordinarily economical. She has somehow got to a plane of acting at which even the closest closeup never reveals a false thought and, seen on the movie streets a block away, she's Bree, not Jane Fonda, walking toward us. There isn't another young dramatic actress in American films who can touch her.

Roger Ebertof theChicago Sun-Timesalso praised Fonda's performance, even suggesting that the film should have been titledBreeafter her character: "What is it about Jane Fonda that makes her such a fascinating actress to watch? She has a sort of nervous intensity that keeps her so firmly locked into a film character that the character actually seems distracted by things that come up in the movie."During the 1971–1972 awards season, Fonda dominated the Best Actress category at almost every major awards ceremony; in addition to her Oscar win, she received her firstGolden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama,her firstNational Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actressand her second New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress.

BetweenKlutein 1971 andFun with Dick and Janein 1977, Fonda did not have a major film success. She appeared inA Doll's House(1973),Steelyard BluesandThe Blue Bird(1976). In the first, some critics felt Fonda was miscast, but her work as Nora Helmer drew praise, and a review inThe New York Timesopined, "Though the Losey film is ferociously flawed, I recommend it for Jane Fonda's performance. Beforehand, it seemed fair to wonder if she could personify someone from the past; her voice, inflections, and ways of moving have always seemed totally contemporary. But once again she proves herself to be one of our finest actresses, and she's at home in the 1870s, a creature of that period as much as of ours."From comments ascribed to her in interviews, some have inferred that she personally blamed the situation on anger at her outspoken political views: "I can't say I was blacklisted, but I was greylisted."However, in her 2005 autobiography,My Life So Far,she rejected such simplification. "The suggestion is that because of my actions against the war my career had been destroyed... But the truth is that my career, far from being destroyed after the war, flourished with a vigor it had not previously enjoyed."She reduced acting because of her political activism providing a new focus in her life. Her return to acting in a series of 'issue-driven' films reflected this new focus.

Jane Fonda did an extraordinary job with her part. She is a splendid actress with a strong analytical mind which sometimes gets in her way, and with an incredible technique and control of emotion; she can cry at will, on cue, mere drops or buckets, as the scene demands... I thought Jane well deserved the Oscar she should have got.

—Fred Zinnemann
director ofJulia(1977)

In 1972, Fonda starred as a reporter alongsideYves MontandinTout Va Bien,directed byJean-Luc GodardandJean-Pierre Gorin.The two directors then madeLetter to Jane,in which the two spent nearly an hour discussing a news photograph of Fonda. At the time, while in Rome, she joined a feminist march on March 8 and gave a brief speech of support for the Italian women's rights.

Through her production company, IPC Films, she produced films that helped return her to star status. The 1977 comedy filmFun with Dick and Janeis generally considered her "comeback" picture. Critical reaction was mixed, but Fonda's comic performance was praised;Vincent CanbyofThe New York Timesremarked, "I never have trouble remembering that Miss Fonda is a fine dramatic actress but I'm surprised all over again every time I see her do comedy with the mixture of comic intelligence and abandon she shows here."Also in 1977, she portrayed the playwrightLillian HellmaninJulia,receiving positive reviews from critics. Gary Arnold ofThe Washington Postdescribed her performance as "edgy, persuasive and intriguingly tensed-up," commenting further, "Irritable, intent and agonizingly self-conscious, Fonda suggests the internal conflicts gnawing at a talented woman who craves the self-assurance, resolve and wisdom she sees in figures like Julia and Hammett."For her performance, Fonda won her firstBAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role,her second Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, and received her third nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

During this period, Fonda announced that she would make only films that focused on important issues, and she generally stuck to her word. She turned downAn Unmarried Womanbecause she felt the part was not relevant. In 1978, Fonda was at a career peak after she won her second Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Sally Hyde, a conflicted adulteress inComing Home,the story of a disabled Vietnam War veteran's difficulty in re-entering civilian life.Upon its release, the film emerged as a major commercial success with audiences and received positive reviews from critics; Ebert noted that her Sally Hyde was "the kind of character you somehow wouldn't expect the outspoken, intelligent Fonda to play," andJonathan Rosenbaumof theSan Diego Readerfelt that Fonda was "a marvel to watch; what fascinates and involves me in her performance are the conscientious effort and thought that seem to go into every line reading and gesture, as if the question of what a captain's wife and former cheerleader was like became a source of endless curiosity and discovery for her."Her performance also earned her a thirdGolden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Dramaas well, making this her second consecutive win. Also in 1978, she reunited with Alan J. Pakula to star in his post-modern Western dramaComes a Horsemanas a hard-bitten rancher, and later took on a supporting role inCalifornia Suite,where she played aManhattanworkaholic and divorcee.Varietynoted that she "demonstrates yet another aspect of her amazing range"andTime Out New Yorkremarked that she gave "another performance of unnerving sureness".

She won her second BAFTA Award for Best Actress in 1979 withThe China Syndrome,about a cover-up of a vulnerability in anuclear power plant.Cast alongsideJack LemmonandMichael Douglas,in one of his early roles, Fonda played a clever, ambitious television news reporter.Vincent Canby,writing forThe New York Times,singled out Fonda's performance for praise: "The three stars are splendid, but maybe Miss Fonda is just a bit more than that. Her performance is not that of an actress in a star's role, but that of an actress creating a character that happens to be major within the film. She keeps getting better and better."This role also earned her Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress. The same year, she starred in the western adventure-romance filmThe Electric Horsemanwith her frequent co-star,Robert Redford.Although the film received mixed reviews,The Electric Horsemanwas a box office success, becoming the eleventhhighest-grossing film of 1979after grossing a domestic total of nearly $62 million.By the late 1970s,Motion Picture Heraldranked Fonda as Hollywood's most bankable actress.

1980–1991: Established star and hiatus

In 1980, Fonda starred in9 to 5withLily TomlinandDolly Parton.The film was a huge critical and box office success, becoming the second highest-grossing release of the year.Fonda had long wanted to work with her father, hoping it would help their strained relationship.She achieved this goal when she purchased the screen rights to the playOn Golden Pond,specifically for her father and her.The father-daughter rift depicted on screen closely paralleled the real-life relationship between the two Fondas; they eventually became the first father-daughter duo to earn Oscar nominations (Jane earned her firstBest Supporting Actress Oscarnomination) for their roles in the same film.On Golden Pond,which also starred four-time Oscar winnerKatharine Hepburn,brought Henry Fonda his onlyAcademy Award for Best Actor,which Jane accepted on his behalf, as he was ill and could not leave home. He died five months later.Both films grossed over $100 million domestically.

Fonda continued to appear in feature films throughout the 1980s, winning anEmmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actressfor her portrayal of aKentuckymountain woman inThe Dollmaker(1984), and starring in the role of Dr. Martha Livingston inAgnes of God(1985). The following year, she played analcoholicactress and murder suspect in the 1986 thrillerThe Morning After,oppositeJeff Bridges.In preparation for her role, Fonda modeled the character on the starletGail Russell,who, at 36, was found dead in her apartment, among empty liquor bottles. Writing forThe New Yorker,Pauline Kael commended Fonda for giving "a raucous-voiced, down-in-the-dirty performance that has some of the charge of her Bree inKlute,back in 1971 ".For her performance, she was nominated for yet anotherAcademy Award for Best Actress.She ended the decade by appearing inOld Gringo.

Fonda and publisherAlan Lightfollowing the62nd Academy Awardsin 1990

For many years Fonda tookballetclass to keep fit, but after fracturing her foot while filmingThe China Syndrome,she was no longer able to participate. To compensate, she began participating inaerobicsand strengthening exercises under the direction of Leni Cazden. TheLeni Workoutbecame theJane Fonda Workout,which began a second career for her, continuing for many years.This was considered one of the influences that started the fitness craze amongbaby boomers,then approaching middle age. In 1982, Fonda released her first exercise video, titledJane Fonda's Workout,inspired by her best-selling book,Jane Fonda's Workout Book.Jane Fonda's Workoutbecame the highest selling home video of the next few years, selling over a million copies. The video's release led many people to buy the then-newVCRin order to watch and perform the workout at home.The exercise videos were directed by Sidney Galanty, who produced the first video and 11 more after that. She would subsequently release 23 workout videos with the series selling a total of 17 million copies combined, more than any other exercise series.She released five workout books and thirteen audio programs, through 1995. After a fifteen-year hiatus, she released two new fitness videos on DVD in 2010, aiming at an older audience.

On May 3, 1983, she entered into a non-exclusive agreement with movie production distributorColumbia Pictures,whereas she would star in and/or produce projects under her own banner Jayne Development Corporation, and she would develop offices at The Burbank Studios, and the company immediately started after her previous office she co-founded with Bruce Gilbert, IPC Films shuttered down.On June 25, 1985, she renamed her production company, Fonda Films, because the original name felt that it would sound like a real estate company.In 1990, she starred in the romantic dramaStanley & Iris(1990) withRobert De Niro,which was her last film for 15 years. The film did not fare well at the box office. Despite receiving mixed to negative reviews, Fonda's performance as the widowed Iris was praised byVincent Canby,who stated, "Fonda's increasingly rich resources as an actress are evident in abundance here. They even overcome one's awareness that just beneath Iris's frumpy clothes, there is a firm, perfectly molded body that has become a multi-million-dollar industry." In 1991, after three decades in film, Fonda announced her retirement from the film industry.

2005–2014: Return to acting and Broadway

Fonda at the premiere ofPromise Me Thisat theCannes Film Festivalin 2007

In 2005, she returned to the screen with the box office successMonster-in-Law,starring oppositeJennifer Lopez.Two years later, Fonda starred in theGarry Marshall-directed dramaGeorgia RulealongsideFelicity HuffmanandLindsay Lohan.Georgia Rulewas panned by critics, butA. O. ScottofThe New York Timesfelt the film belonged to Fonda and co-star Lohan, before writing, "Ms. Fonda's straight back and piercing eyes, the righteous jaw line she inherited from her father and a reputation for humorlessness all serve her well here, but it is her warmth and comic timing that make Georgia more than a provincial scold."In 2009, Fonda returned toBroadwayfor the first time since 1963, playing Katherine Brandt inMoisés Kaufman's33 Variations.In a mixed review, Ben Brantley ofThe New York Timespraised Fonda's "layered crispness" and her "aura of beleaguered briskness that flirts poignantly with the ghost of her spiky, confrontational screen presence as a young woman. For those who grew up enthralled with Ms. Fonda's screen image, it's hard not to respond to her performance here, on some level, as a personal memento mori."The role earned her a Tony nomination forBest Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.

Fonda played a leading role in the 2011 dramaAll Together,which was her first film in French sinceTout Va Bienin 1972.The same year she starred alongsideCatherine KeenerinPeace, Love and Misunderstanding,playing a hippie grandmother.In 2012, Fonda began a recurring role as Leona Lansing, CEO of a major media company, in HBO's original political dramaThe Newsroom.Her role continued throughout the show's three seasons, and Fonda received two Emmy nominations forOutstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.

In 2013, Fonda had a small role in theLee Danielsdirected racial dramaThe Butlerinspired by the life and career ofWhite HousebutlerEugene Allen.Fonda portrayed First LadyNancy ReaganoppositeAlan Rickmanas United States PresidentRonald Reagan.Fonda stated that despite her political differences with Nancy she had no difficulty playing the role saying, "I am an actor, and I have no intention of allowing the political differences between us to color my portrayal of her. I will not be disrespectful."Todd McCarthy ofThe Hollywood Reporterwrote in his review, "the best cameo.. es from Jane Fonda, who is very good indeed as a gracious Nancy Reagan."Katey Rich ofThe Guardianagreed writing, "Fonda eerily transforms herself into Nancy Reagan".She had more film work the following year, appearing in the comediesBetter Living Through ChemistryandThis is Where I Leave You.She voiced Maxine Lombard in the season 26 episode "Opposites A-Frack". a character onThe Simpsons.She played an acting diva inPaolo Sorrentino'sYouthin 2015, for which she earned aGolden Globe Awardnomination. She also appeared inFathers and Daughters(2015) withRussell Crowe.

2015–present:Grace and Frankieand other roles

Fonda appeared as the co-lead in theNetflixseriesGrace and Frankie.She andLily Tomlinplayed aging women whose husbands reveal they are in love with one another. Filming on the first season was completed in November 2014,and the show premiered online on May 8, 2015. The series concluded in 2022 after running for 7 seasons.

Michael Caine,Rachel Weisz,Fonda, andHarvey Keitelat theYouthpremiere at the 2015Cannes Film Festival

In 2016, Fonda voiced Shuriki inElena and the Secret of Avalor.In June 2016, theHuman Rights Campaignreleased a video in tribute to the victims of theOrlando nightclub shooting;in the video, Fonda and others told the stories of the people killed there.

Fonda starred in her fourth collaboration withRobert Redfordin the 2017 romantic drama filmOur Souls at Night.The film and Fonda's performance received critical acclaim upon release. In 2018, she starred oppositeDiane Keaton,Mary Steenburgen,andCandice Bergenin the romantic comedy filmBook Club.Although opened to mixed reviews, the film was a major box office success grossing $93.4 million against a $10 million budget, despite releasing the same day asDeadpool 2.Fonda is the subject of anHBOoriginal documentary entitledJane Fonda in Five Acts,directed by the documentarianSusan Lacy.Receiving rave reviews, it covers Fonda's life from childhood through her acting career and political activism and then to the present day.It premiered on HBO on September 24, 2018.

Fonda filmed the seventh and final season ofGrace and Frankiein 2021, finishing production in November. The first four episodes premiered August 14, 2021,with the final 12 released on Netflix on April 29, 2022. In November 2021, it was announced Fonda would be in the second installment ofAmazon Prime Video'sYearly Departed.She appeared alongside the hostYvonne Orji,and fellow eulogy giversChelsea Peretti,Megan Stalter,Dulcé Sloan,Aparna Nancherla,andX Mayo.It premiered on December 23, 2021.

Fonda joined the cast of the 2023 film80 for Brady,which pairs her with veteran actressesLily Tomlin,Rita Moreno,andSally Field.It also stars formerNFLQuarterback,Tom Brady.She and Tomlin headlinePaul Weitz's black comedyMoving On,co-starringMalcolm McDowellandRichard Roundtree.Her third project for 2023 isBook Club: The Next Chapter,which she made in Italy.

Political activism

During the 1960s, Fonda engaged inpolitical activismin support of theCivil Rights Movement,and inopposition to the Vietnam War.Fonda's visits to France brought her into contact with leftist French intellectuals who were opposed to war, an experience that she later characterized as "small-c communism".Along with other celebrities, she supported theAlcatraz Islandoccupation byIndigenous Americansin 1969, which was intended to call attention to the failures of the government with regard to treaty rights and the movement for greater Indigenous sovereignty.

She supportedHuey Newtonand theBlack Panthersin the early 1970s, stating: "Revolution is an act of love; we are the children of revolution, born to be rebels. It runs in our blood." She called the Black Panthers "our revolutionary vanguard... we must support them with love, money,propagandaand risk. "She has been involved in thefeminist movementsince the 1970s and dovetails her activism in support ofcivil rights.

Fonda andBarbra Streisandjoined with ten other women in the entertainment industry of Greater Los Angeles to establish theHollywood Women's Political Committee(HWPC) in 1984. The committee's initial goal was to assist in the presidential campaign ofWalter Mondaleand his running mateGeraldine Ferraro.The Mondale–Ferraro ticket failed against incumbentsRonald ReaganandGeorge H. W. Bush,but HWPC retrenched itself with a list ofNew Leftpolitical goals, and helped to turn theSenateDemocratic in 1986.In 1992, HWPC helped to elect a record-breaking number of women legislators, an achievement called theYear of the Woman.Described by observers as carrying forward the same political goals as Fonda and Streisand, HWPC continued its activism through political setbacks of 1994 and 1996,finally dissolving in 1997.During their run, the HWPC was called "the single most-powerful entertainment group" in politics.

Opposition to the Vietnam War

See also:Opposition to the Vietnam WarandRITA Resistance Inside the Armies § Jane Fonda and RITA

Fonda at an anti-Vietnam War conference in the Netherlands in January 1975

On May 4, 1970, Fonda appeared before an assembly at theUniversity of New Mexico,in Albuquerque, to speak onG.I.rights and issues. The end of her presentation was met with a discomfiting silence untilBeatpoetGregory Corsostaggered onto the stage, drunk. He challenged Fonda, using a four-letter expletive: why hadn't she addressed theshooting of four students at Kent Stateby the Ohio National Guard, which had just taken place? In her autobiography, Fonda revisited the incident: "I was shocked by the news and felt like a fool." On the same day, she joined a protest march on the home of university president Ferrel Heady. The protesters called themselves "They Shoot Students, Don't They?" – a reference to Fonda's recently released film,They Shoot Horses, Don't They?,which had just been screened in Albuquerque.

In the same year, Fonda spoke out against the war at a rally organized byVietnam Veterans Against the War(VVAW) inValley Forge, Pennsylvania.She offered to help raise funds for VVAW and was rewarded with the title of Honorary National Coordinator.That fall, Fonda started a tour of college campuses on which she raised funds for the organization. As noted byThe New York Times,Fonda was a "major patron" of the VVAW.

In 1971, Fonda, withFred GardnerandDonald Sutherlandformed theFTA tour( "Free The Army", a play on the troop expression "Fuck The Army" ), an anti-war road show designed as an answer toBob Hope'sUSOtour. The tour, described as "politicalvaudeville"by Fonda, visited military towns along theWest Coast,aiming to establish a dialogue with soldiers about their upcoming deployments to Vietnam. The dialogue was made into a movie (F.T.A.) which contained strong, frank criticism of the war by servicemembers; it was released in 1972.

Visit to Hanoi

Jane Fonda on the NVA anti-aircraft gun

Between 1965 and 1972, almost 300 Americans – mostly civil rights activists, teachers, and pastors – traveled toNorth Vietnamto see firsthand the war situation with the Vietnamese. News media in the United States predominantly provided a U.S. viewpoint, and American travelers to North Vietnam were routinely harassed upon their return home.Fonda also visited Vietnam, traveling toHanoiin July 1972 to witness firsthand the bombing damage to thedikes.After touring and photographing dike systems in North Vietnam, she said the United States had beenintentionally targeting the dike system along the Red River.ColumnistJoseph Kraft,who was also touring North Vietnam, said he believed the damage to the dikes was incidental and was being used as propaganda by Hanoi, and that, if the U.S. Air Force were "truly going after the dikes, it would do so in a methodical, not a harum-scarum way".Sweden's ambassador to Vietnam, however, observed the bomb damage to the dikes and described it as "methodic". Other journalists reported that the attacks were "aimed at the whole system of dikes".

Fonda was photographed seated on a North Vietnameseanti-aircraft gun;the photo outraged a number of Americans,and earned her the nickname "Hanoi Jane".In her 2005 autobiography, she wrote that she was manipulated into sitting on the battery; she had been horrified at the implications of the pictures. In a 2011 entry at her official website, Fonda explained:

It happened on my last day in Hanoi. I was exhausted and an emotional wreck after the 2-week visit... The translator told me that the soldiers wanted to sing me a song. He translated as they sung. It was a song about the day 'Uncle Ho' declared their country's independence in Hanoi's Ba Dinh Square. I heard these words: 'All men are created equal; they are given certain rights; among these are life, Liberty and Happiness.' These are the words Ho pronounced at the historic ceremony. I began to cry and clap. 'These young men should not be our enemy. They celebrate the same words Americans do.' The soldiers asked me to sing for them in return... I memorized a song called 'Dậy mà đi' [ "Get up and go" ], written by anti-war South Vietnamese students. I knew I was slaughtering it, but everyone seemed delighted that I was making the attempt. I finished. Everyone was laughing and clapping, including me... Here is my best, honest recollection of what happened: someone (I don't remember who) led me towards the gun, and I sat down, still laughing, still applauding. It all had nothing to do with where I was sitting. I hardly even thought about where I was sitting. The cameras flashed... It is possible that it was a set up, that the Vietnamese had it all planned. I will never know. But if they did I can't blame them. The buck stops here. If I was used, I allowed it to happen... a two-minute lapse of sanity that will haunt me forever... But the photo exists, delivering its message regardless of what I was doing or feeling. I carry this heavy in my heart. I have apologized numerous times for any pain I may have caused servicemen and their families because of this photograph. It was never my intention to cause harm.

Fonda made radio broadcasts on Hanoi Radio throughout her two-week tour, describing her visits to villages, hospitals, schools, and factories that had been bombed, and denouncing U.S. military policy.During the course of her visit, Fonda visited Americanprisoners of war(POWs), and brought back messages from them to their families. When stories of torture of returning POWs were later being publicized by the Nixon administration, Fonda said that those making such claims were "hypocrites and liars and pawns", adding about the prisoners she visited, "These were not men who had been tortured. These were not men who had been starved. These were not men who had been brainwashed."In addition, Fonda toldThe New York Timesin 1973, "I'm quite sure that there were incidents of torture... but the pilots who were saying it was the policy of the Vietnamese and that it was systematic, I believe that's a lie."Her visits to the POW camp led to persistent rumors that prisoners had been coerced into meeting with Fonda by the North Vietnamese with torture, which were repeated widely, and continued to circulate on the Internet decades later. Fonda, as well as the named POWs, have denied the rumors,and subsequent interviews with the POWs showed these allegations to be false—the persons named had never met Fonda.

In 1972, Fonda helped fund and organize theIndochina Peace Campaign,whichcontinued to mobilize antiwar activists in the US after the 1973Paris Peace Agreement,until 1975 when the United States withdrew from Vietnam.Because of her tour of North Vietnam during wartime and the subsequent rumors, resentment against her persists among some veterans and serving U.S. military. For example, when aU.S. Naval Academyplebe ritually shouted out "Goodnight, Jane Fonda!", the entire company of midshipmen plebes replied "Goodnight, bitch!"This practice has since been prohibited by the academy'sPlebe Summer Standard Operating Procedures.In 2005, Michael A. Smith, a U.S. Navy veteran, was arrested for disorderly conduct inKansas City, Missouri,after he spat chewing tobacco in Fonda's face during a book-signing event for her autobiography,My Life So Far.He told reporters that he "consider[ed] it a debt of honor", adding "she spit in our faces for 37 years. It was absolutely worth it. There are a lot of veterans who would love to do what I did." Fonda refused to press charges.

Regrets

In a 1988 interview withBarbara Walters,Fonda expressed regret for some of her comments and actions, stating:

I would like to say something, not just to Vietnam veterans in New England, but to men who were in Vietnam, who I hurt, or whose pain I caused to deepen because of things that I said or did. I was trying to help end the killing and the war, but there were times when I was thoughtless and careless about it and I'm very sorry that I hurt them. And I want to apologize to them and their families.... I will go to my grave regretting the photograph of me in an anti-aircraft gun, which looks like I was trying to shoot at American planes. It hurt so many soldiers. It galvanized such hostility. It was the most horrible thing I could possibly have done. It was just thoughtless.

In a60 Minutesinterview on March 31, 2005, Fonda reiterated that she had no regrets about her trip toNorth Vietnamin 1972, with the exception of the anti-aircraft-gun photo. She stated that the incident was a "betrayal" of American forces and of the "country that gave me privilege". Fonda said, "The image of Jane Fonda, Barbarella, Henry Fonda's daughter... sitting on an enemy aircraft gun was a betrayal... the largest lapse of judgment that I can even imagine." She later distinguished between regret over the use of her image aspropagandaand pride for her anti-war activism: "There are hundreds of American delegations that had met with the POWs. Both sides were using the POWs for propaganda... It's not something that I will apologize for." Fonda said she had no regrets about the broadcasts she made on Radio Hanoi, something she asked the North Vietnamese to do: "Our government was lying to us and men were dying because of it, and I felt I had to do anything that I could to expose the lies and help end the war."

Subject of government surveillance

In 2013, it was revealed that Fonda was one of approximately 1,600 Americans whose communications between 1967 and 1973 were monitored by the United StatesNational Security Agency(NSA) as part ofProject MINARET,a program that some NSA officials have described as "disreputable if not downright illegal".Fonda's communications, as well as those of her husband,Tom Hayden,were intercepted by Britain'sGovernment Communications Headquarters(GCHQ). Under theUKUSA Agreement,intercepted data on Americans were sent to the U.S. government.

1970 arrest

On November 2, 1970, Fonda was arrested by authorities atCleveland Hopkins International Airporton suspicion ofdrug trafficking.Her luggage was searched when she re-entered the United States after participating in an anti-war college speaking tour in Canada, and several small baggies containing pills were seized.Although Fonda protested that the pills were harmless vitamins, she was booked by police and then released on bond. Fonda alleged that the arresting officer told her he was acting on direct orders from the Nixon White House.As she wrote in 2009, "I told them what [the vitamins] were but they said they were getting orders from the White House. I think they hoped this 'scandal' would cause the college speeches to be canceled and ruin my respectability."After lab tests confirmed the pills were vitamins, the charges were dropped with little media attention.

Fonda's mugshot from the arrest, in which sheraises her fistin a sign of solidarity, has since become a widely published image of the actress.It was used as the poster image for the 2018HBOdocumentary on Fonda, "Jane Fonda in Five Acts", with a giant billboard sporting the image erected inTimes Squarein September 2018.In 2017, she began selling merchandise with her mugshot image to benefit the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power & Potential.

Feminist causes

In a 2017 interview withBrie Larson,published byPeoplemagazine, Fonda stated, "One of the great things the women's movement has done is to make us realise that (rape and abuse is) not our fault. We were violated and it's not right." She said, "I've been raped, I've been sexually abused as a child and I've been fired because I wouldn't sleep with my Boss." She said, "I always thought it was my fault; that I didn't do or say the right thing. I know young girls who've been raped and didn't even know it was rape. They think, 'It must have been because I said 'no' the wrong way.'"

Through her work, Fonda said she wants to help abuse victims "realize that [rape and abuse] is not our fault". Fonda said that her difficult past led her to become such a passionate activist for women's rights. The actress is an active supporter of the V-Day movement, which works to stop violence against women and girls. In 2001, she established the Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health, which aims to help prevent teen pregnancy. She said she was "brought up with the disease to please" in her early life.Fonda revealed in 2014 that her mother,Frances Ford Seymour,was recurrently sexually abused as young as eight, and this may have led to her suicide when Jane was 12.

Fonda on the cover ofMs.magazinein 2006

Fonda has been a longtime supporter of feminist causes, includingV-Day,of which she is an honorary chairperson, a movement to stop violence against women, inspired by the off-Broadway hitThe Vagina Monologues.She was at the first summit in 2002, bringing together founderEve Ensler,Afghan women oppressed by theTaliban,and aKenyanactivist campaigning to save girls fromgenital mutilation.

In 2001, she established the Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health atEmory UniversityinAtlantato help prevent adolescent pregnancy through training and program development.On February 16, 2004, Fonda led a march throughCiudad Juárez,withSally Field,Eve Enslerand other women, urging Mexico to provide sufficient resources to newly appointed officials in helping investigate the murders of hundreds of women in the rough border city.In 2004, she also served as a mentor to the first all-transgendercast ofThe Vagina Monologues.In the days before the September 17, 2006, Swedish elections, Fonda went to Sweden to support the new political partyFeministiskt initiativin their election campaign.

InMy Life So Far,Fonda stated that she considerspatriarchyto be harmful to men as well as women. She also states that for many years, she feared to call herself a feminist, because she believed that all feminists were "anti-male". But now, with her increased understanding of patriarchy, she feels that feminism is beneficial to both men and women, and states that she "still loves men", adding that when she divorced Ted Turner, she felt like she had also divorced the world of patriarchy, and was very happy to have done so.

In April 2016, Fonda said that while she was 'glad' thatBernie Sanderswas running, she predictedHillary Clintonwould become the first femalepresident,whose supposed win Fonda believed would result in a "violent backlash." Clinton did not become president and got defeated byRepublican Party's nominee businessmanDonald Trumpin the general election later that year. Fonda went on to say that we need to "help men understand why they are so threatened – and change the way we view masculinity".In March 2020, Fonda later endorsed Sanders for the Democratic nomination in the2020 election,calling him the "climate candidate."

Women's Media Center

In 2005, along withRobin MorganandGloria Steinem,she cofounded theWomen's Media Center,an organization that works to amplify the voices of women in the media through advocacy, media and leadership training, and the creation of original content.Fonda serves on the board of the organization.Based in Los Angeles, she has lived all over the world, including six years in France and 20 in Atlanta.

LGBTQ+ support

Fonda has publicly shown her support of theLGBTQ+community many times throughout her career. In August 2021, Fonda, the cast ofGrace and Frankie,and other advocates joined to support a fundraiser hosted by theLos Angeles LGBT Centerto help members of the LGBTQ+ community during theCOVID-19 pandemic.

Fonda spoke out as an LGBTQ+ ally long before it was common.She appeared in a video of a 1979 interview during theWhite Night Riotsin San Francisco after the assassination ofHarvey Milk,the first openly gay politician in California. During the interview she was asked if the gay community was still being discriminated against, to which she replied that they "are culturally, psychologically, economically, politically" being discriminated against.Fonda was then asked if the gay community has used her as an advocate and she replied that she hopes they will use her, though she stressed that "they are a very powerful movement, they don't need me, but they like me (and) they know by working together we can be stronger than either entity is by itself."

Native Americans

Fonda went toSeattlein 1970 to support a group of Native Americans who were led byBernie Whitebear.The group had occupied part of the grounds ofFort Lawton,which was in the process of being surplussed by theUnited States Armyand turned into a park. The group was attempting to secure a land base where they could establish services for the sizable localurban Indianpopulation, protesting that "Indians had a right to part of the land that was originally all theirs."The endeavor succeeded and theDaybreak Star Cultural Centerwas constructed in the city's Discovery Park.

In addition to environmental reasons, Fonda has been a critic of oil pipelines because of their being built without consent on Native American tribal land. In 2017, Fonda responded to American President Donald Trump's mandate to resume construction of the controversial North Dakota Pipelines by saying that Trump "does this illegally because he has not gotten consent from the tribes through whose countries this goes" and pointing out that "the U.S. has agreed to treaties that require them to get the consent of the people who are affected, the indigenous people who live there."

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

In December 2002, Fonda visitedIsraeland theWest Bankas part of a tour focusing on stopping violence against women. She demonstrated withWomen in Blackagainst Israel's occupation of the West Bank andGaza Stripoutside the residence of Israel's Prime Minister. She later visited Jewish and Arab doctors, and patients at a Jerusalem hospital, followed by visits toRamallahto see a physical rehabilitation center and Palestinian refugee camp.

In September 2009, she was one of more than 1,500 signatories to a letter protesting the2009 Toronto International Film Festival's spotlight onTel Aviv.The protest letter said that the spotlight on Tel Aviv was part of "the Israeli propaganda machine" because it was supported in part by funding from the Israeli government and had been described by the Israeli Consul General Amir Gissin as being part of aBrand Israelcampaign intended to draw attention away fromIsrael's conflict with the Palestinians.Other signers included actorDanny Glover,musicianDavid Byrne,journalistJohn Pilger,and authorsAlice Walker,Naomi Klein,andHoward Zinn.

Fonda, inThe Huffington Post,said she regretted some of the language used in the original protest letter and how it "was perhaps too easily misunderstood. It certainly has been wildly distorted. Contrary to the lies that have been circulated, the protest letter was not demonizing Israeli films and filmmakers." She continued, writing "the greatest 're-branding' of Israel would be to celebrate that country's long standing, courageous and robust peace movement by helping to end the blockade of Gaza through negotiations with all parties to the conflict, and by stopping the expansion of West Bank settlements. That's the way to show Israel's commitment to peace, not a PR campaign. There will be no two-state solution unless this happens."Fonda emphasized that she, "in no way, support[s] the destruction of Israel. I am for the two-state solution. I have been to Israel many times and love the country and its people."Several prominent Atlanta Jews subsequently signed a letter toThe Huffington Postrejecting the vilification of Fonda, who they described as "a strong supporter and friend of Israel".

Opposition to the Iraq War

See also:Opposition to the Iraq War

Fonda argued that theIraq Warwould turn people all over the world against America, and asserted that a global hatred of America would result in more terrorist attacks in the aftermath of the war. In July 2005, Fonda announced plans to make an anti-war bus tour in March 2006 with her daughter and several families of military veterans, saying that some war veterans she had met while on her book tour had urged her to speak out against theIraq War.She later canceled the tour due to concerns that she would divert attention fromCindy Sheehan's activism.

In September 2005, Fonda was scheduled to join British politician and anti-war activistGeorge Gallowayat two stops on his U.S. book tour—Chicago, andMadison, Wisconsin.She canceled her appearances at the last minute, citing instructions from her doctors to avoid travel following recent hip surgery.On January 27, 2007, Fonda participated in an anti-war rally and march held on theNational Mallin Washington, D.C., declaring that "silence is no longer an option".She spoke at an anti-war rally earlier that day at theNavy Memorial,where members of the organizationFree Republicpicketed in a counter protest.

Fonda and Kerry

In the2004 presidential election,her name was used as a disparaging epithet againstJohn Kerry,a former VVAW leader, who was then theDemocratic Partypresidential candidate.Republican National CommitteeChairmanEd Gillespiecalled Kerry a "Jane Fonda Democrat". Kerry's opponents alsocirculated a photographshowing Fonda and Kerry in the same large crowd at a 1970 anti-war rally, though they sat several rows apart. A faked composite photograph, which gave a false impression that the two had shared a speaker's platform, was also circulated.

Environmentalism

Fonda speaks at an environmental rally in Washington, D.C., 2019

In 2015, Fonda expressed disapproval of PresidentBarack Obama's permitting ofArcticdrilling (Petroleum exploration in the Arctic) at the Sundance Film Festival. In July, she marched in a Toronto protest called the "March for Jobs, Justice, and Climate", which was organized by dozens of nonprofits, labor unions, and environmental activists, including Canadian authorNaomi Klein.The march aimed to show businesses and politicians alike that climate change is inherently linked to issues that may seem unrelated.

In addition to issues of civil rights, Fonda has been an opponent of oil developments and their adverse effects on the environment. In 2017, while on a trip withGreenpeaceto protest oil developments, Fonda criticizedCanadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeausaying at the summit on climate change in Paris, known as theParis agreement,Trudeau "talked so beautifully of needing to meet the requirements of the climate treaty and to respect and hold to the treaties with indigenous people... and yet he has betrayed every one of the things he committed to in Paris."

Since at least 2019, she has been a supporter of global environmental organizations includingGreenFaithand350.org.She spoke at the Fire Drill Fridays protest in Washington, D.C. wherein protestors condemned expansion of thefossil fuel industry.

In October 2019, Fonda was arrested three times in consecutive weeks protesting climate change outside theUnited States Capitolin Washington, D.C. She was arrested with members of the group Oil Change International on October 11,withGrace and Frankieco-starSam Waterstonon October 18,and with actorTed Dansonon October 25.On November 1, Fonda was arrested for the fourth consecutive Friday; also arrested wereCatherine KeenerandRosanna Arquette.On December 5, 2019, Fonda explained her position in aNew York Timesop-ed.In March 2022, Fonda launched the Jane Fonda Climate PAC, apolitical action committeewith the purpose of ousting politicians supporting the fossil fuel industry.

In September 2023, she participated in New York City'sMarch to End Fossil Fuels.In 2024, she was a featured guest at 350.org's Food & Water Watch event.

Artificial intelligence

In September 2024, Fonda joined over 125 actors, directors, and musicians in signing an open letter urgingGovernor Gavin Newsomto signSB 1047,a CalifornianAI safetybill that would, amongst other things, hold companies training the largest AI models liable if their models cause mass casualties or over $500 million in damages. The letter, also signed by figures such asAlec Baldwin,Pedro PascalandKelly Rowland,said that the "Grave threats from AI used to be the stuff of science fiction, but not anymore," and that AI companies should implement "reasonable safeguards" against those risks.

Other activities

Writing

Fonda at a book signing, 2005

On April 5, 2005,Random Housepublished Fonda's autobiographyMy Life So Far.The book describes her life as a series of three acts, each thirty years long, and declares that her third "act" will be her most significant, partly because of her commitment toChristianity,and that it will determine the things for which she will be remembered.

Fonda's autobiography was well received by book critics and noted to be "as beguiling and as maddening as Jane Fonda herself" in its review inThe Washington Post,calling her a "beautiful bundle of contradictions".The New York Timescalled the book "achingly poignant".

In January 2009, Fonda began chronicling her return to Broadway in a blog with posts about topics ranging from herPilatesclass to fears and excitement about her new play. She usesTwitterand has aFacebookpage.In 2011, Fonda published a new book:Prime Time: Love, health, sex, fitness, friendship, spirit – making the most of all of your life.It offers stories from her own life as well as from the lives of others, giving her perspective on how to better live what she calls "the critical years from 45 and 50, and especially from 60 and beyond". On September 8, 2020,HarperCollinspublished Fonda's book,What Can I Do?: The Truth About Climate Change and How to Fix It.

Philanthropy

Fonda's charitable works have focused on youth and education, adolescent reproductive health, environment, human services, and the arts. Fonda marketed her highly successful line of exercise videos and books in order to fund theCampaign for Economic Democracy,a California lobbying organization she founded with her second husband Tom Hayden in 1978.Fonda has established the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential (GCAPP) in the mid-1990s and the Fonda Family Foundation in the late 1990s. In the mid-2000s, Fonda founded the Jane Fonda Foundation in 2004 with one million dollars of her own money as a charitable corporation with herself as president, chair, director, and secretary; Fonda contributes 10 hours each week on its behalf.In 2017, she began selling merchandise featuring her 1970 arrest mugshot on her website, the proceeds of which benefit GCAPP.

Personal life

Marriages and relationships

Fonda and her first husbandRoger Vadimin Rome, 1967

Fonda writes in her autobiography that she lost her virginity at age 18 to actorJames Franciscus.In the late 1950s and early 1960s, she dated automobile racing managerGiovanni Volpi,producersJosé Antonio Sainz de VicuñaandSandy Whitelawas well as actorsWarren Beatty,Peter Mann,Christian MarquandandWilliam Wellman Jr.During this time, she oftenbeardedfor closeted homosexuals,including dancerTimmy Everett,theater directorAndreas Voutsinasand actorEarl Holliman.

Fonda and her first husband, French film directorRoger Vadim,became an item in December 1963 and married on August 14, 1965, at theDunes Hotelin Las Vegas.The couple had a daughter, Vanessa Vadim, born on September 28, 1968, inBoulogne-Billancourtand named after actress and activistVanessa Redgrave.Separation reports surfaced in March 1970, which Fonda's spokesman called "totally untrue",though by mid-1972 she was conceding: "We're separated. Not legally, just separated. We're friends."In the early 1970s, Fonda had affairs with political organizerFred GardnerandKluteco-starDonald Sutherland.

Fonda andHaydenwith their son,Troy,in Santa Monica, 1976

On January 19, 1973, three days after obtaining a divorce from Vadim inSanto Domingo,Fonda married activistTom Haydenin a free-form ceremony at her home inLaurel Canyon.She had become involved with Hayden the previous summer and was three months pregnant when they married.Their son,Troy O'Donovan Garity,was born on July 7, 1973, in Los Angeles and was given his paternal grandmother's maiden name, as the names "Fonda and Hayden carried too much baggage." Fonda and Hayden named their son forNguyễn Văn Trỗi,the Viet Cong member who had attempted to assassinate US Secretary of DefenseRobert McNamara.Hayden chose O'Donovan as the middle name after Irish revolutionaryJeremiah O'Donovan Rossa.In 1982, Fonda and Hayden unofficially adopted an African-American teenager,Mary Luana Williams(known as Lulu),whose parents wereBlack Panthers.Fonda and Hayden separated over the Christmas holiday of 1988 and divorced on June 10, 1990, inSanta Monica.In 1989, while estranged from Hayden, Fonda had a seven-month relationship with soccer playerLorenzo Caccialanza.She was linked with actorRob Lowethat same year.

Fonda married her third husband, cable television tycoon andCNNfounderTed Turner,on December 21, 1991, at a ranch nearCapps, Florida,about 20 miles east ofTallahassee.The pair separated in 2000 and divorced on May 22, 2001, inAtlanta.Seven years of celibacy followed,then from 2007 to 2008 Fonda was the companion of widowered management consultant Lynden Gillis.In mid-2009, Fonda began a relationship with record producerRichard Perry.It ended in January 2017.That December, when asked what she had learned about love, Fonda toldEntertainment Tonight:"Nothing. I'm not cut out for it!"

Fonda and her third husbandTed Turneron the red carpet at the 1992Emmy Awards

In a 2018 interview, Fonda stated that up to age 62, she always felt she had to seek the validation of men in order to prove to herself that she had value as a person, something she attributes to her mother's early death leaving her without a female role model. As a consequence, she attached herself to "Alpha males",some of whom reinforced her feelings of inadequacy, despite her professional success. Fonda said that she came to see that attitude as a failing of the men in her life:" Some men have a hard time realizing that the woman they're married to is strong and smart and they have to diminish that, because it makes them feel diminished. Too bad we have defined masculinity in such a way that it's so easily shamed. "In 2018 she said, "I'm not dating anymore, but I did up until a couple of years ago. I'm 80; I've closed up shop down there."

Faith and activism

Fonda grew upatheistbut turned toChristianityin the early 2000s. She describes her beliefs as being "outside of established religion" with a more feminist slant and views God as something that "lives within each of us as Spirit (or soul)".Fonda once refused to say "Jesus Christ" inGrace and Frankieand the script was changed.She practiceszazenandyoga.

Health

As a child, Fonda suffered from a poor self-image and lacked confidence in her appearance, an issue exacerbated by her fatherHenry Fonda.About that, Fonda said:

I was raised in the '50s. I was taught by my father [actor Henry Fonda] that how I looked was all that mattered, frankly. He was a good man, and I was mad for him, but he sent messages to me that fathers should not send: Unless you look perfect, you're not going to be loved.

In another interview withOprah Winfrey,Fonda confessed, after years of struggling with her self-image, "It took me a long long time to realize we're not meant to be perfect, we're meant to be whole."In adulthood, Fonda developedbulimia,which took a toll on her quality of life for many years, an issue that also affected her motherFrances Ford Seymour,who died by suicide when Fonda was 12. On the subject of her recovery from bulimia, Fonda said,

It was in my 40s, and if you suffer from bulimia, the older you get, the worse it gets. It takes longer to recover from a bout... I had a career, I was winning awards, I was supporting nonprofits, I had a family. I had to make a choice: I live or I die.

Fonda was diagnosed withbreast cancerandosteoporosisin her later years.She underwent alumpectomyin November 2010 and recovered.In April 2019, Fonda revealed she had a cancerous growth removed from her lower lip the previous year and pre-melanomagrowths removed from her skin.On September 2, 2022, Fonda announced that she has been diagnosed withnon-Hodgkin lymphoma,and that she had begunchemotherapytreatments, expected to last six months.On December 15, 2022, Fonda stated that her cancer was in remission and that her chemotherapy would be discontinued.

Acting credits and accolades

Main articles:Jane Fonda filmographyandList of awards and nominations received by Jane Fonda

Fonda backstage with actressThora Birchbefore being honored at the 2015Hollywood Film Awards

In 1962, Fonda was given the honorary title of "Miss Army Recruiting" by the Pentagon.In 1981, she was awarded theWomen in FilmCrystal Award.In 1994, the United Nations Population Fund made Fonda a Goodwill Ambassador.In 2004, she was awarded theWomen's eNews21 Leaders for the 21st Century award as one of Seven Who Change Their Worlds.In 2007, Fonda was awarded an HonoraryPalme d'OrbyCannes Film FestivalPresident Gilles Jacob for career achievement. Only three others had received such an award –Jeanne Moreau,Alain Resnais,andGérard Oury.

In December 2008, Fonda was inducted into theCalifornia Hall of Fame,located atThe California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.In November and December 2009, she receivedthe National German Sustainability AwardandNew York Women's AgendaLifetime Achievement Award. She was also selected as the 42nd recipient (2014) of theAFI Life Achievement Award.In 2017, she received aGoldene Kameralifetime achievement award.

She was one of fifteen women selected to appear on the cover of the September 2019 issue ofBritishVogue,by guest editorMeghan, Duchess of Sussex.In 2019, she was inducted into theNational Women's Hall of Fameand in the following year she was on the list of the BBC's100 Womenannounced on November 23, 2020.In September 2023, Fonda received theJohn Steinbeck “In the Souls of the People” Award.

See also

• List of actors with Academy Award nominations
• List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories
• List of actors with two or more Academy Awards in acting categories
• List of peace activists

References

Bibliography

• Andersen, Christopher(1990).Citizen Jane: the Turbulent Life of Jane Fonda.Henry Holt and Company.ISBN0-8050-0959-0.
• Bosworth, Patricia(2011).Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Woman.Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.ISBN978-0-547-50447-6.
• Collier, Peter (1991).The Fondas: A Hollywood Dynasty.Putnam.ISBN0-399-13592-8.
• Davidson, Bill (1990).Jane Fonda: An Intimate Biography.Sidgwick & Jackson.ISBN0-283-99641-2.Archivedfrom the original on April 15, 2023.RetrievedJuly 24,2021.
• Fine, Carla and Fonda, Jane.Strong, Smart, and Bold: Empowering Girls for Life.2001: Collins;ISBN0-06-019771-4.
• Fonda, Jane (2005).My Life So Far.Random House.ISBN0-375-50710-8.Archivedfrom the original on August 27, 2022.RetrievedAugust 27,2022.
• Fonda, Jane.Jane Fonda's Workout Book.1986: Random House Value Publishing;ISBN0-517-40908-9.
• Fonda, Jane, with Mignon McCarthy.Women Coming of Age.1987: Random House Value Publishing;ISBN5-550-36643-6.
• Fox, Mary Virginia and Molina, Mary.Jane Fonda: Something to Fight for.1980: Dillon Press;ISBN0-87518-189-9.
• Freedland, Michael.Jane Fonda: The Many Lives of One of Hollywood's Greatest Stars.1989: HarperCollins Publishers;ISBN0-00-637390-9.
• French, Sean.Jane Fonda: A Biography.1998: Trafalgar Square Publishing;ISBN1-85793-658-2.
• Gilmore, John.Laid Bare: A Memoir of Wrecked Lives and the Hollywood Death Trip.Amok Books, 1997;ISBN1-878923-08-0.
• Hershberger, Mary (June 1, 2004). "Peace Work, War Myths: Jane Fonda and the Antiwar Movement".Peace & Change.29(3–4): 549–579.doi:10.1111/j.0149-0508.2004.00302.x.
• Hershberger, Mary (2005).Jane Fonda's War: A Political Biography of an Antiwar Icon.New Press.ISBN1-56584-988-4.
• Kiernan, Thomas.Jane: an intimate biography of Jane Fonda.1973: Putnam;ISBN0-399-11207-3.
• Lembcke, Jerry (2010).Hanoi Jane: War, Sex, and Fantasies of Betrayal.Culture, Politics, and the Cold War. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.ISBN978-1-55849-815-0.

External links

• Official website
• Jane FondaatIMDb
• Jane Fondaat theInternet Broadway Database
• Jane Fondaat theTCM Movie Database