If there’s one thing longtime fans of Jane Fondaknow, it’s that she never holds back. The legendary actress and ardent activist, 83, spoke candidly with Harper’s Bazaar for the April 2021 issue of the mag. On the cover, Jane exuded total elegance in a sleek, sexy Ralph Lauren black sequin gown, styled by George Cortina and photographed by Mario Sorrenti. But it was an excerpt from her interview that really stood out.
Jane Fonda poses on the cover of the April 2021 issue of Harper’s Bazaar [Mario Sorrenti].While speaking with the outlet, Jane confessed that she doesn’t “want to be in a relationship, a sexual relationship, again. I don’t have that desire,” she admitted. But at 83, Jane revealed that she absolutely does “fantasize” about potential suitors. “Yes, here’s my fantasy. I’ll just put it out there. That I meet a professor or a researcher, somebody in that line who is really capable of loving, of cherishing a woman, so that I could test myself and see if I could show up. I think maybe now I could, but the problem is that, like a man, I would want a younger man. Isn’t that awful? It’s a thing about skin. I would want a younger man, and I’m too vain,” she confessed.
Jane Fonda for Harper’s Bazaar [Mario Sorrenti].But beyond her fantasy, there were some aspects of getting older that Jane really struggled with, and she got very vulnerable with Harper’s Bazaarabout that challenge. “Okay. I’ll be truthful. One of the painful things that I’ve realized by 80 — I don’t even know how old I am — 83, and single now. What I’ve had to really think about is that I’m not really capable [of intimacy],” Jane revealed.
Jane Fonda for Harper’s Bazaar [Mario Sorrenti].“It’s not them. It’s me,” she continued, referencing any previous potential partners. “If a guy had come along and said, ‘Come on, Fonda, show up,’ I would have run away scared. I was attracted to men who never would have done that to me because they couldn’t necessarily show up themselves. I didn’t know that at the time, but now I know. I don’t think I can do anything about it now, but that’s the truth, as Lily [Tomlin, Jane’s friend and Grace & Frankie collaborator] would say. That’s the truth.”
As with many parts of her life, Jane has been fairly forthcoming about her personal life. The Oscar winner has been married three times — Roger Vadim, from 1965-1973, Tom Hayden, from 1973-1990, and Ted Turner, from 1991-2001. Between 2009 to as recently as 2017, Jane was in a relationship with former partner Richard Perry. But through personal triumphs and changes, Jane has always remained her most authentic self.
