Jane Fonda Isn’t Going Anywhere: ‘I Don’t Understand the Idea of Sitting Back and Retiring’
Jane Fonda refuses to be pushed aside. She recently discussed her life and career accomplishments so far. As she looked back on her career, she made it clear she has no intentions of retiring from the entertainment industry. Here’s what the 80 for Brady star had to say about her career plans.
Jane Fonda won’t retire
During an interview with Chris Wallace on the HBO Max show Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? Fonda shared how she feels about retiring from acting. Wallace says Fonda has been “busier than ever” since turning 85 years old. He asked her if she ever thought about “taking it easy.”
“You have three movies this year, you’re resuming your climate protests where you sometimes get arrested, and you’ve got your climate political action committee,” says Wallace. “So, here’s my question, Jane, why not just sit back and take it easy?”
Fonda was surprised by Wallace’s question. She thought Wallace’s suggestion that she sit back and relax was “toxic.” She says she doesn’t have any plans to slow down.
“What? That sounds so toxic,” says Fonda. “Sitting back and take it easy. Look, if I had spent my life working on a factory floor, and not being paid enough and being bullied by my boss, that might be what I want to do. I’ve had a very privileged, interesting, exciting life, and to leave that and go and sit down– I mean, I’ve got a lot of energy. I’ve got a lot of ideas. We’re facing a terrible crisis that just makes my stomach go like this. And I just don’t understand the idea of sitting back or retiring. I don’t; I don’t get it.”
Jane Fonda uses her platform to put a spotlight on causes she cares about
Fonda once thought about leaving the entertainment industry. However, she realized that being an actor helped draw attention to her activism.
“One feeds the other,” Fonda tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I recently thought, ‘Maybe I do want to quit acting.’ I mean, I’m 85. But then I realized, my platform matters. It brings people in that might not come in normally.”
The publication says Fonda spent her 82nd birthday in jail after she was arrested in 2019 at a climate change protest that she named Fire Drill Fridays. “I was happy to turn 82 in jail,” she says. “Because I knew it would get a lot of attention.”
Jane Fonda stopped acting for 15 years
There was a time when Fonda thought she would never act again. After marrying her third husband, Ted Turner, in 1991, she decided to leave the entertainment industry. However, she returned to acting after their divorce in 2001.
“I left for 15 years, when I married Ted Turner, and I did not think I was gonna come back. When I married him, I thought it would be forever,” Fonda tells Entertainment Tonight. “But I came back, and frankly, if anybody told me that at 85, I’d be doing [the movie 80 for Brady], I would have not believed them. So, I feel very lucky.”
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