85-year-old Jane Fonda is unmatched even today when it comes to her unapologetic style of living. An actor, fashion model, and activist, Fonda has earned both love and respect in the industry for the choices she made and continues to make.
The Grace And Frankie star, who started her career in acting in the 1960s, has immortalised several performances, and her advocacy around the environment and LGBTQIA+ rights paves the way for younger actors to follow heed. Fonda also made important contributions to political activity throughout her career. She became a crucial anti-war activist during the Vietnam War.
Here's looking at some of Fonda's powerful statements made around love, life and the significance of female friendship.
On learning
You don’t learn from successes, you don’t learn from awards, you don’t learn from a celebrity, you only learn from wounds and scars and mistakes and failures. And that’s the truth.
On female friendship
Women sit facing each other, eye-to-eye, and they say, ‘I’m in trouble, I need you, can you help me?’ We’re not afraid of being vulnerable. I don’t even know what I would do without my women friends. I mean it’s, ‘I have my friends, therefore I am.
On choosing self
I don’t need a man to feel whole. In my marriages, I’d lost parts of who I was because I was trying to mould myself into what I thought a man wanted me to be.
On political activism
In this country, the only way a minority can get anything done is to make a little noise.
On feminism
“For so long, it seemed like if you said you were a feminist, you were anti-men. I think that’s dissipated for the most part now. I hope that men understand that the fight for equality benefits everyone, and that it’s in everyone’s best interest to have men and women be able to shoulder the same societal responsibilities at every single level – economically, militarily, spiritually, parentally.”
On women having agency
Feminism is not just about women; it's about letting all people lead fuller lives.
On not settling
“As I read this, I am about to turn 78. And though I know you’ll find this impossible to believe, this is the happiest I have ever been. It was all worth it, the good and the bad. So don’t give up. I’m proud of you because you will never settle for less than you think you can attain.” ―CBS News, “Jane Fonda’s Note To Self,” 2015
On Ageing
“We’re still living with the old paradigm of age as an arch. That’s the old metaphor: You’re born, you peak at midlife and decline into decrepitude. ... A more appropriate metaphor for aging is a staircase. The upward ascension of the human spirit, bringing us into wisdom, wholeness and authenticity.” ―TedxWomen talk, 'Life’s Third Act' 2011
On Philanthropy
One part of wisdom is knowing what you don’t need anymore and letting it go.
On Resilience
If you allow yourself, you can become stronger in the very places that you've been broken.
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