Actress Jane Fonda, who turned 80 on December 21, says when she was young she never thought she would even reach 30.
“I never pictured 30. I assumed I wouldn’t live very long and that I would die lonely and an addict of some sort. I didn’t think if I did live this long, that I would be vibrant and healthy and still working. I am grateful,” Fonda told people.com.
Fonda’s early years were shaped by family tragedy. Her socialite mother, Frances, suffered from mental illness and committed suicide when Fonda was 12 and her brother, actor Peter Fonda, was 9.
The “Grace and Frankie” actress, who idolised her father, movie legend Henry Fonda, despite his emotional coldness, says she led a “fraught adolescence” filled with insecurity and loneliness. She battled bulimia for decades, even as she rose to Hollywood stardom and won two Oscars.
Looking back on what she has learnt about life and love, including her three marriages (to director Roger Vadim, activist Tom Hayden and media mogul Ted Turner), Fonda said: “If you don’t feel seen, safe or celebrated, get out.”
