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Jane Fonda, 87, talked about her unhappy youth — and how she's "more centered, more whole, more complete" now, during a Nov. 19 appearance on Michelle Obama's podcast The Look
The Oscar winner looked back on how her mother's death when she was 12 impacted her, sharing, "I didn't think I'd live past 30"
These days, she says she's "living to not have regrets"
Jane Fondaopened up about her unhappy youth, admitting she thought she'd die "from drugs and loneliness" before she turned 30.
Fonda, 87, shared the heartbreaking admission during a Nov. 19 appearance onMichelle Obama's podcast,The Look,where she joined model and activistBethann Hardison, andReal Housewives of New YorkstarJenna Lyonsfor a discussion on aging. "I didn't think I'd live past 30," Fonda said. "I was sure I was going to die."
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"My mother died when I was 12," theBook Clubstar continued, referencing how her mother,Frances Ford Seymour,died by suicidein 1950. "My youth was not especially happy, and … I'm not addictive, but I thought I was going to die from drugs and loneliness."
"The fact that I'm almost 88 is astonishing to me," Fonda, whose birthday is December 21, shared, adding, "And what is even more astonishing is that I'm better now. I wouldn't go back for anything. I feel more centered, more whole, more complete. I'm very happy. Single."
"I'm a fan of you," Obama said.
Later in the discussion, Fonda shared that "I've never been afraid of aging, and more importantly, I'm not afraid of dying." TheOscar winnersaid when she turned 60, she thought "this is the beginning of my final act, and I didn't know how to live it."
Fonda shared that's when she realized "I'm afraid of dying with a lot of regrets."
"I watched my dad die with a lot of regrets," she said about the lateHenry Fonda, who died in 1982 at age 77. "That was an important realization for me, because if you don't want to die with regrets, then you have to live the last part of your life in such a way that there won't be any regrets."
As she'spreviously shared, before her father died "I was able to tell him that I loved him and that I forgave him for, you know, whatever didn't happen. And I hope that he would forgive me for not being a better daughter. I got to say that to him."
"He didn't say anything. But he wept," she said. "I had never seen that before. I'd never seen my father break down and weep. And I— it was, it was powerful."
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As Fonda said on the podcast, it helped her realize what she wanted for her own life: "I also want to be surrounded by people who love me. Forgiveness comes into play, including forgiving myself. That actually has guided me in the last 30 years. I've been living to not have regrets."
The conversation prompted Hardison to bring up an old quote from Fonda, who once said "you don't feel old as long as you're healthy."
"I think that old age is fantastic if it's lived intentionally," Fonda, who revolutionized thefitness industrywith her workout videos, elaborated. "Intentionality is the key. Really thinking about it."
As Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, recently shared in anInstagram video, Fonda showed the exercises women were forced to do as exercise in the '50s and '60s. "That is what women's fitness consisted of … until moi."
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