Jane Fonda says she’s the ‘happiest she’s ever been’

Jane Fonda shared her thoughts about being 85 and why she thinks her life has just gotten better through ageing.

During a recent interview with People, Fonda said she’s at a point where she’s the “happiest [she’s] ever been” and shared how she’s continued to keep moving forward dsepite some of the physical health challenges she faced. Fonda, who is currently in remission, was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma last year.

“There’s been tragedy and hard things in my life. But I’ve never succumbed to them. I’ve been resilient all my life,” she explained.

Fonda also detailed what she’s learned from her experiences.

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“A bad thing happens, and you think, ‘Well, that’s happened before, and I’m fine. I’ll get over it.’ You know what’s important,” she explained. “I spent a lot of time like a canoe with no paddle being carried in the current. As I got older, I learned I’m going to put an oar in the water and steer.”

She confessed she felt “pretty lost” when she was a young woman and pointed out the one thing that she wished her peers had told her back then.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I wished that someone had said: ‘Being young is really hard,’” Fonda explained during a video interview with People. “Don’t let anybody kid you, it’s like: ‘What am I supposed to do? What do I want? Who am I?’”

After emphasising that she just “didn’t know” who she was when she was younger, she shared another piece of advice that she wished she knew at the time.

“I didn’t have a very high regard for myself,” the Grace & Frankie star recalled. “So, if anybody asked me for anything or offered me something, I didn’t know how to say no. So I wish that someone had said to me: ‘No is a complete sentence.’ And I wish someone had said to me: ‘Don’t give up, keep going, it’ll get better.’”

Fonda added that she saw “no future” for herself and she once thought that she wouldn’t make it to age 30, which is why she’s so grateful for the career she has now. “I don’t take anything for granted,” she said. “I’m just so amazed that at my age I’m still working, and I’m a viable performer. And I still have a lot of energy. It all just became a surprise for me.”

Earlier this year, Fonda revealed that she didn’t think she’d make it to her thirties because of her eating disorder. In a February episode of Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast, she spoke about her experience with bulimia in her twenties.

“I suffered from bulimia very, very bad. I led a secret life,” she said. “I was very, very unhappy. I assumed I wouldn’t live past 30, I’m 85. I don’t understand.”

Elsewhere in her interview with People, Fonda spoke about another important part of her life: Her work as an activist, which includes her organisation, the Jane Fonda Climate PAC.

“I love this planet and want to do everything I can to protect it,” she said. "I get really depressed because I read the science and I know what’s happening and it’s urgent and it could become catastrophic. It’s just inconceivable to me to not do everything that I can.”

The Independent