Maureen Dowd (who is trash) from The NY Times has a new long form interview with Jane Fonda, which reminds me how much I love reading Jane’s interviews. Jane gives zero f-ks at this point, she says what she’s thinking and tells very personal anecdotes. Outlets are focusing on Jane saying she regrets not sleeping with Marvin Gaye when she had the chance, which is interesting enough but she says so many revealing things it’s hard to know what to include. She provides very matter-of-fact and sad metoo stories without much context, she talks about the movies and shows she’s watching (I’m always interested in that) and she even reveals her weight. Plus she goes into depth about the motivation behind her Fire Drill Fridays activism. She called Ivanka trying to get the Trump administration on board and Ivanka laughed at her! I’m not excerpting that part but you can read it at the source.
Jane is a committed activist but she’s a pragmatist too and did you know that she personally canvasses Trump voters and just listens to them and lets them talk? She talked about that a couple of years ago. I could run three stories on this NYT interview easily.
Her MeToo stories
I was raped once by an actor, and I had one director, who is a French director, who said, ‘Your character has to have an orgasm, so I have to see what your orgasms are like.’ And I just pretended I couldn’t understand him. He was talking in French.She loves new shows
In particular, she says, she’s really digging Saoirse Ronan; Michaela Coel and her show on HBO, “I May Destroy You”; Issa Rae and her HBO show, “Insecure”; and Ramy Youssef’s show on Hulu called “Ramy.” She said she loved the Charlize Theron’s Netflix superhero movie, “The Old Guard.”She’s 5’8” tall and says 119 is her fighting weight
There was a time when I was anorexic, but I never got below 112. I don’t let it get too far out of hand. I’m not at my fighting weight right now. I’m 127. My fighting weight is about 119. So, you know, when we get three weeks out from shooting ‘Grace and Frankie,’ I’ll lose 10 pounds.The red coat she bought for Fire Drill Fridays will be her last clothing purchase
Never again. I have two closets full of clothes. I have clothes that I wore 30 years ago. I can still wear them. That’s one thing about not putting on too much weight. And when I can’t wear anything anymore, I just sell it now.On being single
I have no interest [in a relationship]. I don’t have time. I am fully complete with me and my children and my grandchildren and my friends. I don’t want any more romance. I don’t have time for it.You know, just about every day. I’ll be in the middle of something and think, I would never have had time to do this or read this if I was trying to keep a relationship good. I have a drawer full of vibrators. It’s amazing.
[From a confirm or deny section] “Your greatest regret is that you never had sex with Che Guevara.”
No, I don’t think about him. Who I do think about, and what is a great regret is Marvin Gaye. He wanted to and I didn’t. I was married to Tom. I was meeting a lot of performers to try to do concerts for Tom and the woman who was helping me do that introduced me to Marvin Gaye.
I have a lot of body image issues and let’s just say that some of Jane’s stories about that really resonate with me. I’m her same height and have never been below 123 pounds though. I could absolutely not maintain that and 119 seems super punishing as a maintenance weight. She’s always been very tiny and that’s important to her. I love that Jane watches and loves modern television and that she’s so upfront about her desire to not be in a relationship. She’s 83 years old, she’s done it all and seen so much and she’ll tell you about it. I hope to have a quarter of her wisdom, strength and just outspokenness when I’m that age. She’s aspirational on a lot of levels.
Jane is promoting her new book What Can I Do? My Path from Climate Despair to Action, which is out September 8th and for which all proceeds go to Greenpeace. She’s going to drop in to 10 virtual book clubs to talk about it.
I haven’t seen I May Destroy You yet, I was worried it might be triggering, but I’m going to give it a try. My friend Rhiannon also loves and recommends it.
I LOVE HER, and her workouts transformed my body in just 2 months, like nothing before!
Best thing I took on in 2020.
Woman boss
Did you do them online or did you buy the DVDs and which ones?
First I did them on yt and then I bought 3 dvds!
The Lean Workout, the Low Impact and the Complete Workout (she uses weights in that one and wears a blue leotard).
It’s so much fun, and it really works, and you can build up your stamina really quickly, and no movement lasts for too long.
Highly recommend!
@Laalaa Fill us in on which of her workouts you’ve been doing! I was looking in to them but couldn’t find them on streaming so I haven’t done any yet. Very interested though!
@TaraBest some of her workouts are available on YouTube (both the classic and more recent ones).
I’ve done a few and they are lots of fun.
I have a couple of her videos – the low impact workout and the easy going workout. I’m 67 and just can’t do the high impact stuff any more – but even the easier ones work up a good sweat. She was way ahead of her time with her exercise routines.
She is extraordinary and….interesting. That seems like a simple thing but it’s true. She’s interesting!
See Netflix? Now when I ask for my Old Guard sequel I have Jane Fonda on my side! Jane Fonda!! So get to it!! 😁
I enjoyed old guard, but the big pharma villain and without giving much away… the character at the end… felt like the writing and casting needs a lot of help before a sequel.
Jane Fonda is an American treasure and Nagini has some nerve to laugh at her, although it doesn’t surprise me.
She must have a certain body type to be able to go down to 119 lbs and still fully function. I’m 5’8 and a half and at my thinnest I’ve been probably 127-125 lbs, which meant basically eating one apple and some crackers a day. I was always tired and sleepy at 125 lbs and I finally just gave up that number, because it was just ridiculous (I was modeling at the time).
5ft8 and at my thinnest ever I was 136, I know sit at 148 and have an average/slimming body. I’d be absolutely tiny at 118!
5’8 too and currently 130. I recently lost some weight due to the stress of this pandemic . I’m really trying to gain it back
Im 5’8” and find that the sweet spot for my weight is about 150lb. Its changed as Ive aged. There was a time in my 20s when i wouldn’t dream of even admitting to 150, and i would starve for weeks just to see the magic number of 122 on a scale. And after having 2 kids seeing the number 198 on the scale both times was emotionally devastating. I wish more celebrities would demystify the number.
Same. I’m an inch shorter than Ms Fonda and was a bobble head at 125 when I was twenty-something. I’m now between 140 and 145 and am still slim. Just goes to show *every body is different.*
Just a reminder that weight is just a number! 10 people can be the same weight and height and look totally different. For example, I weigh a lot heavier than I look
Just read the whole article – Wes Anderson, do something! Put her in a scene with Tilda and Frances and Angelica!
I’m 5’3”, 130 Pounds , and I love my body and every spot on my curvy butt. I think maintenance numbers are dangerous, especially for tall women. Can’t imagine gaining height and still being this weight.
I’m 5’1″ and obese now but when i was actively dieting and working out my best weight was 116. got down to 103 and noticed that being that skinny on a big boned frame- no good -my face looked skeletal. once i got to 116 others admitted they were worried about my health and looked so much better. i can’t imagine 119lbs at 5’8″.i know she has a much more delicate bone structure than i do but still!
I’m 5’. 92 is my fighting weight. I’m 96 lbs now and need to cut back on the Dr. Peppers. Very small boned.
Jerusha don’t know how old you are, but if you’re not post-menopausal and your periods stop due to the dieting, you’re going to need help – that’s basically anorexia nervosa. When you get down in the low 90s, your brain chemistry and thought processes change and you get more obsessive, also it’s not really good long-term for your bone density. Jane Fonda has a history of eating disorders, pretty good control over it right now but you can tell it’s not really out of her life completely.
just give me more grace and frankie!!
I LOVE Jane Fonda- her zest for life, focus on important social issues and creative talent.
I’m definitely more Frankie than Grace. Lily Tomlin & Jane Fonda are great counterparts to each other both in the show and in interviews.
Sidebar- has anyone seen Grandma? It’s one of my fave Lily Tomlin films. Another fave is The Electric Horseman with Jane Fonda and Robert Redford.
Both actresses have had such incredible careers and I find them both so inspiring.
PS naturally I have 9 to 5 on my morning playlist (that is very power ballad heavy cuz I’m all about power ballads cuz I hate mornings and need an uplifting soundtrack to cope).
Saw both of them. Jane has made four films with RR at different points in their careers-The Chase(very underrated and what a cast!), Barefoot in the Park, Electric Horseman and Our Souls at Night. They made a good pair.
Have you watched Barefoot in the Park with Jane & Redford? It was their first movie together and it’s wonderful!
I loved Barefoot in the Park & Our Souls at night. I’ll have to check out the Chase. And I need to watch Across the Golden Pond at some point.
I also enjoyed Klute. Jane Fonda is a consistently incredible actress. I’ll watch anything with her in it because she always gives a great performance.
Yes, “Barefoot” and “Klute” were both amazing, loved them. She’s very accessible as an actress.
Jane Fonda is an amazing actress and activist but also her tv taste is fire. Seriously all those shows are so so great. Ramy is slept on which is terrible because it is so good and i May Destroy You is brilliant as is Insecure.
Lol- now i want to drink wine and watch tv with Jane,
I tried to watch Ramy but the way his longterm girlfriend was portrayed in the first episode seemed really sexist to me. I could give it a chance though.
I just read the Maureen Dowd piece this morning – what a great interview with national treasure and inspirational woman for the ages, Lady Jane Fonda! Love her activism & what she is doing to transform the fossil fuel industry. There’s no reason the USA can’t make the switch to renewables by 2030 – we have the technology! Keep the pressure on. My favorite quote from the article referred to the Presidential race: “I’d rather push a moderate than fight a fascist.”
National Treasure. Never perfect, never claimed to be.
Has done so much work for our country, and so much work on herself.
I admire her.
Goals. That’s it. That’s my goals, right there. I’m at that point in my life where I see the crossroads between heading toward where my mother’s at and another possibility, another life. My mom is frustrated and bored and filled with anger and regrets and self-consciousness in her seventies. She won’t broaden her views beyond a certain comfort zone and she won’t try many new things.
But to be Jane Fonda – both comfortable in her skin but also bold enough to put herself out there in new situations, to try new perspectives. That’s the sweet spot, right there.
Everyone says “I may destroy you” is so good and I tried it but couldn’t get into it. It’s not triggering for me I just didn’t feel like I knew her character’s personality at all. Is it a slow reveal? I watched 2 or 3 episodes.
Yes, it is a slow reveal but not slow-paced. Now that all the episodes have aired, it’s best to watch a couple at a time. The way the story unfolds reveals itself when you watch a bunch (at least 2).
She’s absolutely a treasure. I always come away from her interviews feeling a lot better about life and aging. Jane’s workouts were an integral part of my Mother’s day and I loved her in Grace and Frankie. I’m always Interested in what she has to say. She’s got great taste in TV and ‘I may destroy you’ is about consent, and how casually those lines are crossed.
This is the first I’ve seen her with the gray hair. I don’t particularly like it.
I find her statement “ There was a time when I was anorexic, but I never got below 112. I don’t let it get too far out of hand.“ problematic.
However, regarding the comments, above, comparing their weight to hers, I would offer the following. I’m 60 with a small bone structure at 5’ 7.5”. I have friends that look fit at 130#. I have friends that look fit at 150#. I look fit at 120# and my doctor is happy with my weight. There are many things to take into consideration when determining healthy weight.