Jane Fonda: ‘I Didn’t Think I’d Live Past 30’

Jane Fonda will turn 88 next month—a milestone she once thought she’d never reach. “I didn’t think I’d live past 30,” the Oscar-winning actress told Michelle Obama on her podcast, according to USA Today. “I was sure I was going to die. My youth was not especially happy.”

Fonda opened up about a difficult childhood, including the suicide of her mother, socialite Frances Ford Seymour, when Fonda was just 12, followed by struggles with drugs and an eating disorder.

“I’m not addictive, but I thought I was going to die from drugs and loneliness,” Fonda told the New York Post. “So the fact that I’m almost 88 is astonishing to me. Even more astonishing is that I wouldn’t go back for anything. I feel more centered, more whole, more complete. I’m very happy.”

The daughter of legendary actor Henry Fonda said the turning point came as she approached her 60s, when she began to view that decade as the start of her “final act.” Now, she says, “I’m not afraid of dying. I’m afraid of dying with a lot of regrets.”

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