Jane Fonda: Wild and Fun Facts About The Actress

Born on December 21, 1937, in New York City, actress Jane Fonda is best known for her roles in 'Grace and Frankie', 'Fun with Dick and Jane' and 'The Dollmaker', among many others.

Let's take a look at the life of the 86-year-old Hollywood star!

Jane's exercise clips

Did you know that the actress released 22 workout videos called 'Jane Fonda's Workout'?

Starting in 1982, she sold over 17 million copies of her exercise clips during a 13-year-span!

Jane Fonda met Michael Jackson

In an appearance on Andy Cohen's 'Watch What Happens Live', the actress recalled the time she and the late pop star swam together... in their birthday suits!

She said: "I saw Michael Jackson naked. He came and visited me when we were shooting 'On Golden Pond,' and I had a little cottage right on the lake, and it was a beautiful, moonlit night. He was skinny."

She then proceeded to joke that the 'Thriller' hitmaker knew "he was going to die young" and that she would publicly "talk about him being naked."

The day Ted Turner cheated on her

Jane Fonda has been married three times. From 1965 to 1973 she was married to Roger Plemiannikov. Later on, she was married to Tom Hayden, from 1973 to 1990.

In 1991 she married her third husband, Ted Turner. According to 'IMDb', Jane caught him cheating just one month after their wedding, which resulted in her hitting him and pouring a drink on his head. They didn't divorce until 2001.

Jane Fonda and religion

Following her and Ted Turner's 2001 divorce, the 'Barbarella' actress revealed she had become a born-again Christian. Speculation quickly arose that her religious views may have played a role in their split, given Turner's well-known radical and anti-religious opinions.

Jane Fonda and... Sir Mix-a-Lot?

The actress was mentioned in rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot's hit track 'Baby Got Back' (later sampled on Nicki Minaj's 'Anaconda').

The lyrics read: "So your girlfriend rolls a Honda, playin' workout tapes by Fonda. But Fonda ain't got a motor in the back of her Honda."

She could have played these roles

It is known what films Jane Fonda is famous for, but there are a couple movie roles that she turned down.

Fonda turned down the role of "Chris MacNeil" in the 1973 film 'The Exorcist', played by Ellen Burstyn.

She was also offered the role of "Mildred Ratched" in the 1975 film 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest', but she rejected it. The part was eventually given to actress Louise Fletcher, who ended up earning a Best Actress Academy Award for her performance, opposite Jack Nicholson.

She turned down the lead role in the 1979 movie 'Norma Rae', played by Sally Field, who won a Best Actress Oscar too.

Last but not least, she said no to the role of "Lara" in the 1965 film 'Doctor Zhivago', as it was set to being filmed in Spain for nine months and she didn't want to leave her then-fiancé Roger Vadim. The character was portrayed by Julie Christie. Over the course of the years, Fonda has admitted that of all parts she's turned down, she regrets not doing 'Doctor Zhivago'.

She sued 'Playboy' magazine

The actress embarked on a legal battle against the publication, after pictures where she appeared naked were published. The images were taken by Jacques Heripe on the set of the 1966 film 'The Game Is Over', without her consent, when she was supposed to be filmed only from the back.

She bathed in her late dog's ashes

In a post on her website, the star once revealed she bathed in the ashes of her late golden retriever, Roxy. How did this happen? According to the actress, she mistook the contents of the urn for bath salts, and only realized they were her beloved dog's rests when she saw a bone in the water.

Jane Fonda is a cancer survivor

The 'Coming Home' actress was diagnosed with breast cancer, undergoing a lumpectomy in 2010. In 2019, she revealed that a cancerous growth had been removed from her lower lip, as well as pre-melanoma growths from her skin.

In 2022, Fonda announced that she had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, for which she received chemotherapy treatment. A couple months later, she revealed her cancer was in remission.