Jane Fonda has achieved great success in her life, from being an Oscar-winning actress to being a fitness guru and activist. At 85, Fonda also mother of three grown children – Vanessa Vadim, Mary Luana Williams and Troy Garity – whom she said recently are one of her “very few” regrets in life.
Jane Fonda has achieved great success in her life, from being an Oscar-winning actress to a fitness guru and activist.
Fonda, 85, is the proud mother of three grown children – Vanessa Vadim, Mary Luana Williams and Troy Garity – whom she said recently have caused one of her “very few” regrets in life.
“I wish I’d been the mother to my children,” Fonda revealed to CNN’s Chris Wallace in an interview aired Feb. 19. “My children are wonderful – talented and smart – but I didn’t know how to raise them properly.”
Fonda said she has learned more about parenting through her activism over the years and is striving to “show up” for her children now.
“I work at an organization in Georgia that supports adolescents and have studied parenting. Now I know what it should be like,” she said, “but back then it wasn’t clear to me. So now I’m trying to show up now.”
Fonda founded the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention over two decades ago, while living in Atlanta during her marriage to CNN founder Ted Turner.
According to its website, the organization now reaches more than 60,000 young people annually with the mission of improving their “overall health and social well-being.”
Fonda has spoken candidly about her regret over motherhood, noting that she isn’t afraid of death but rather that reaching the end of her life filled with regrets.
“What I’m most afraid of is reaching the end of life with regrets when there’s no time to rectify them,” she said. “That’s one reason why I strive to finish everything before my time comes up.” In 2017, Fonda expressed this sentiment to fellow actress Brie Larson during an interview.
At that time, Fonda regretted not being a better parent and so she began to learn, affirming “It’s never too late.”
“I am still working to make up for what I didn’t know before,” Fold told Larson. “When I pass away, I want my family by my side – to love me and cherish me – but that can only come through hard work and dedication.” She continued: “After all these years, there is still so much work left to do if this goal is ever going to become reality – and so far, everything looks promising!”
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Fonda’s oldest child Vanessa Vadim, born in 1968, is her only child with her first husband, French filmmaker Roger Vadim.
In 1973, Fonda welcomed her second child Troy Garity with then-husband Tom Hayden – a renowned anti-war activist who passed away in 2016.
Fonda adopted her third child Mary Williams in the 1980s after she attended Laurel Springs Children’s Camp, founded by Fonda and Hayden as a summer camp for kids.
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