Jane Fonda
Beauty Of Audacity
Jane Fonda. Healthy Living Magazine
Part 2 of 3
HealthyLiving: Were you more happy and emotional when you won the Oscar or when you accepted the Oscar for your father?
Tony Duran/CPi Syndication
Jane Fonda: Well the second time, I wasn’t sick, number one. Number two; it was a film that was kind of my idea, the whole concept of it. I had been working on it in a production capacity from the very beginning. It was the first time that had happened. So it was a subject very, very, very close to my heart about Vietnam Veterans coming home.
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So when I won and also Jon Voight won, and the writers won, it was an incredibly important time for me. In some ways, more important than the first time. But in the long run, what happens is as time goes on and you have your ups and downs and God knows, being a movie star is good for the heart and terrible for the nerves because you can be on high roll and do really well and then you can have a very parched time when things don’t seem to be going your way. During those times, the fact that you can say to yourself, “Well, I did win two Oscars. I must have something going for me,” helps. I’ve talked to other people who don’t feel that it helps but it does help when my confidence is waning. That’s not true of everyone.
Jane Fonda. Healthy Living Magazine
HealthyLivinG: What was your favorite movie to make and why?
Jane Fonda: Boy, it’s hard to say. There are three. Klute, Coming Home, On Golden Pond for different reasons are my three favorite movies to make. I also won an Emmy for a movie that I produced called Dollmaker. That was also a very, very close to my heart project.
HealthyLivinG: You have a new show coming out on Netflix. Could you talk a little bit about that?
Jane Fonda: It’s called Grace and Frankie. It streams May 8th. It’s a half-hour dramedy. People laugh and cry when they watch it and I’ve been interviewed by many reporters who’ve seen the first five episodes. You can see the whole season in six and a half hours. It’s a half-hour long, each episode, and so you can binge watch in six and a half hours. The premise is two women, Grace and Frankie, played by me and Lily Tomlin. I’m Grace, married to Martin Sheen, Frankie to Sam Waterston. Our husbands have been law partners for a long time. We’ve both been married over 40 years to our husbands. Grace and Frankie do not like each other.
It’s oil and water. We are very, very different. She’s a pot-smoking, aging, extroverted, Bohemian hippie. I am a much more straight-laced, uptight, controlling business woman. We can’t wait for our husbands to retire so we never have to see each other again. The first episode opens with us in a restaurant. Our husbands tell us to meet them in a restaurant and we’re sure they’re going to announce to us that they’re retiring. Instead, they announce to us that they are in love with each other and want to leave us so they can get married. So, I mean, imagine you’re 70 and after 40 years of marriage your husband is leaving you for a man. It’s very real. There’s a lot of reality in it, pain, poignancy, who am I now, what am I going to do and it’s the slow evolution of the relationship between these two women. It’s created by Marta Kauffman, who was the co-creator of Friends.
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HealthyLivinG: Are there any TV shows that you like to watch? Do you have a favorite one or one that you binge watch?
Jane Fonda: I watch Empire. I watch Homeland. I watch Masters of Sex. I’m watching American Crime. I watch The Voice. I watch documentaries.
HealthyLivinG: You’re famous for fitness videos that were highly popular. Are you still into fitness? Do you exercise regularly?
Jane Fonda. Healthy Living Magazine
Jane Fonda: I do. I walk about an hour a day. I do strength training. I stretch. I don’t do it the way I used to because an older body has to do things differently, slowly and more carefully and work more core muscles. The workout when you’re older has to be more functional. You have to be sure not to hurt yourself and I do. I work out and I’m pretty careful about what I eat.
The workout when you’re older has to be more functional. You have to be sure not to hurt yourself and I do. I work out and I’m pretty careful about what I eat.
Tony Duran/CPi Syndication
Over the last six years, I’ve done new videos, DVDs. They’re not videos anymore, for people 50 and older or people who have never worked out or are recovering from an operation or something. It’s called Prime Time. The brand is Prime Time and they’re very popular videos but I’ve also re-released my original workout videos, the five most popular ones on DVD. Over the years, I’ve gotten so many requests. “Oh my God, my tape is broken. I’ve lost my tape. Your workout, the original workout was the most effective one. I want to use it again but my tape is gone.” So I put them out on DVDs and they’re very successful.
HealthyLivinG: Do you stick to any kind of diet? Maybe gluten free or organic?
Jane Fonda: No, I eat healthy, fresh food, minimal red meat. Low on carbs, but I eat carbs. I eat a lot of fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, chicken.
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HealthyLivinG: Our magazine is very focused on anti-aging for women and how to take care of your skin, diet, exercise. Do you have any kind of advice or any special tricks or routines?
Jane Fonda: Aging is what happens. There is nothing that can be done about it. We age. The question is not antiaging because that sets you up for failure and unhappiness. The question is how to age successfully. That’s a huge difference.
The number one most important thing is to not smoke. Almost equally important is keep moving. A lot of people tend, when they get older, because they can’t do what they used to do, they say, “Well then, why bother?” Wrong in capital letters, wrong. I can’t run anymore. I can’t downhill ski. I can’t ride. There are a lot of things that I can’t do that I used to do. So I do things that are safer when you’re older. I walk. I lift lighter weights. I move more slowly. But keep moving. Keeping your body active is absolutely critical. If you’re in a wheelchair, move your arms.
One of the reasons that I did my new set of Prime Time DVDs, workouts, is to address the issue of successful aging. I wrote a book called Prime Time about how to age successfully. I realize how critical keeping physically active was so that’s why I did these new programs called Prime Time. Eating fresh, healthy food, cutting back on sugar and refined carbohydrates is very important. I have had plastic surgery. I don’t deny it. However, I’ve done it very, very minimally. I wish that I hadn’t but being an actor, how you look is critically important and I figure I probably bought myself an additional 10 years of professional work.
Maybe five, I’m not sure. You know, just don’t overdo it. If you’re going to do it, be sure you’re going to a good doctor and be sure that you don’t do too much. Don’t try to get rid of all the wrinkles. Learn to love your wrinkles. They’re part of who you are. They’re an expression of character. You don’t want to lose character in your face, you know. Don’t try to be perfect. It’s a losing battle and you’ll just be unhappy. Your anxiety will drive you to do things like eat too much or drink too much or whatever. Meditating, I meditate for 45 minutes to an hour every day. That keeps me calm and grounded. Trying to be intentional about how we live, staying interested, staying curious, paying attention to young people, cultivating young friends, these kinds of things are, I think, important to staying youthful.