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|   What
better way to mark Jane's birthday on December 21st than
with a two week special feature of the highly requested
Oprah Magazine Interview Jane made several years ago following
her divorce from Ted Turner. This week, Jane talks about
Faith, Exercise and Acting. Since this interview, Jane has
decided to go back into the acting business (News,
Click Here)
Our extreme thanks to Oprah Magazine - visit her site -
http://www.oprah.com/.
Missed part one of this feature? Click
Here!
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 O:
I recently read that you were converted to Christianity
by your chauffeur, who took you to a black church. True?
JF: No. I have become a Christian, but it had nothing
to do with a driver. And I do go to a black Church.
O: You do?
JF: Providence [Missionary] Baptist Church.
O: I grew up in a black church, and when whites would come,
it was a big deal. So are you a big deal there?
JF: Uh-huh!
O: There's Jane!
JF: I haven't joined any church - that's the church I've
been to a number times. I go to other churches too. I'm
on a quest. I grew up in secular environments on both coasts
- either in New York or Hollywood - and the only people
I knew who had faith were Jewish. Most of the people whom
I did organizing work with were lapsed Catholics, including
both my previous husbands.
O: So you grew up with no faith? I was raised a Christian
in the church and I'm always fascinated that there are people
who never had faith. I don't know how you exist without
it.
JF: My father was agonistic. Once when I was about 13, I
wanted to go to church on Christmas Eve. I wanted to go
hear the Christmas carols, and my father said I was a hypocrite
- that was the environment I grew up in. And yet for 15
years, I have felt guided. I interpreted that in a secular
way in the beginning, but then I heard Bill Moyers say,
"Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous,"
and it unleashed my need to be spiritual. This was about
ten years ago. I began to pray. I felt the hand of God on
my shoulder. When I got on my knees and touched my fingers
to my forehead and prayed - and I always have to do it aloud
- I felt this incredible connection to God, or to what I
call the Holy Spirit. That only happened once, when I moved
to Atlanta because it was the first time that I had spent
time with people of faith - those who go to church and read
the Bible. Ted has read the Bible cover to cover, twice.
He can quote scripture better than most preachers.
O: The same Ted who had been quoted as saying, "Christianity
is for losers" - that Ted?
JF: That's right. Ted is a fallen angel. He was going to
be a missionary. He was saved seven times, he says. He felt
betrayed by God when his sister died horrifically from lupus
when he was about 19. And it turned him hostile - and it's
not hard to be hostile to the church. Because you can go
through history, the Crusades and the inquisitions, and
the formal church had a lot to apologize for.
O: Amen.
JF: But that's facile. And Christianity or any religion
doesn't necessarily have to be about a church. You carry
your God inside you.... it's difficult, because when you're
famous and the word gets out that you're Christian, every
church is saying, "even Jane Fonda." People come
up to me in airports and through their arms around me.
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 O:
Jane, a whole generation of women knows you as the workout
queen who urged them to "go for the burn" How
do you feel about -
JF: Conflicted.
O: Why conflicted?
JF: There are two sides. What got me into it was my move
from eating disorders to compulsive exercising. So what's
bad about it is that it was compulsive in the beginning.
But it is a healthier way to deal with body image than having
eating disorders.
O: I remember trying to keep up with your workouts,
when you wore that pink-stripped body suit and headband.
You were being compulsive then? No wonder I couldn't keep
up!
JF: After Vietnam, Tom and I started the Campaign for Economic
Democracy a California organization, and raised allot of
money, because there was a recession. Tom and I sat down
and said, "Why don't we start a business to fun the
political work?" That was the workout [series]. It
was owned by the political organization and raised 17 million
dollars.
O: That's a lot of tapes!
JF: And I was nervous and it, because I'm an actress. Was
this going to upset my career? But the minute I started
doing it, I started hearing from women. Women would say,
"I don't take sleeping pills any more. I haven't had
to take my insulin. I can stand up to my boss." And
I realized it was about more than the shape of one's body.
It was empowerment. I always tried, in the books I wrote,
to make it clear: This is not the foal. But I was
thin. So no matter what I said, the subliminal message was,
"you have to look a certain way." And I'm not
happy about playing in to that.
O: But you helped so many women define their boundaries
- and you really started the exercises movement.
JF: That's why I'm conflicted. Because so many
women say how positive it was for them, but then there are
also women who say -
O: "I could never look like Jane." But
what you intended was for every woman to find herself.
JF: What I intended was to raise money for a political
organization. Then it turned out that along with all the
other women, I began to realize it was about a lot of stuff,
including empowerment.
O: In the years just before those tapes, you were
bulimic. When did you stop the bulimia? I read that you
stopped at age 36.
JF: Yeah.
O: What was that like?
JF: It was like hell. No one quite understands what causes
it. And I think some people are more prone to it than others,
but it had something to do with living a lie. Not being
authentic. Faking it. It's like becoming a woman and then
rejecting it. Like alcoholism, it's a disease of denial.
And the problem - which you don't realize in the beginning
- it that it's just as addictive as a drug.
O: Which is hard for people to understand. We al
think that you can stop yourself from throwing up.
JF: It's very difficult. I saw myself going down
a dark hole, and I had two children, and I was making a
difference in the world, and I had to make a choice between
the light and the dark. Life and death. And I chose life.
I stopped cold turkey. I don't advice everybody to do that,
but I did.But it was years before I could sit at a meal
without feeling anxious.
O: I would imagine that every time you saw food,
you would feel anxious. Because how could you do this and
keep it a secret?
JF: I think I liked on apple peels and the crust
of bread, because if I went any further into the food, there'd
be no stopping. So that's what caused the anxiety
- I preferred to not even be around food.
O: This started when you were 12?
JF: No, I learned it in boarding school, the way a lot of
girls did. But it was mostly when I became an actress at
21. There was the pressure to be thin - and I was a model.
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 O:
Jane, because of all that I have read, I thought that you
and Ted were finished. But you don't seem finished at all.
JF: We'll never be finished. Whatever happens in terms of
our living arrangements, we will always be close. We've shared
too much. We have too much in common.
O: Is it hard to be at places with Ted now?
JF: Not at all. We have a blast. We went out when my brother
was here, with my brother's wife and Ted's kids, who adore
me, and I adore them. It's hysterical because Ted's ex-wife
Janie was there, too. We had such fun - Janie, you and I can
relate better now. I said, "janie, you site on that side
of him and I'll sit on this side and we'll breath really hard!"
We picked on him, and he laughed!
O: But what about dating - do you intend to date other
people?
JF: I haven't been. I'll tell you what, I haven't thought
about it.
O: You haven't?
JF: I haven't the need. I don't know what's going on. At the
end of my last marriage, man I was lookin'! But not I don't
care.
O: What do you need in a companion?
JF: I have always been with men who were type A, alpha males.
I must exist because I'm with him, I'd think. But what made
them what they were [also often meant] they were lacking empathy
genes. And now I know I don't need an alpha male; I need somebody
who's interesting. I'm not pretending that I'm 100 percent
healed, so I might know [if a man is right for me] right away,
but it wouldn't take me seven years to figure it out. Maybe
a month of two.
O: You said earlier that it's in the third act of
life - the last 30 years - that everything gets pulled together.
What do you need to pull together in your third act?
JF: When I began making On Golden Pond [in the eighties],
I met [co-star] Katherine Hepburn, which was terrifying. She
looked at me and asked, "Are you going to do that backflip?"
And I had no intention of learning to do the backflip; I'm
terrified of going over backward, and I hate cold water. But
what was I going to say - no? So I said, "Of course."
Knowing I would have to shoot this scene in which I had to
do a backflip at the end of the summer, I started taking lessons
with a swimming coach. First I practiced on a mattress, and
then I graduated to the raft on the water. On the days I wasn't
shooting, I'd go out there and practice my flip. And Katherine
used to hide in the bushes on the shore and watch. One day,
I finally did a backflip! I was covered in bruises, and I
crawled up on the shore. And she was standing there. "You
made me like you, Jane," she said. "I've watched
you day after day. You know, you've got to conquer your fears.
Otherwise you'll get soggy. You have to do what you're afraid
of." That really stuck with me.What am I afraid of now?
Intimacy. So that's what I have to work on. In the third act,
I don't want to get soppy - to get to the end and have regrets.
O: And when you say intimacy, you're not talking about
sex, right?
JF: Sex and intimacy are not the same: You can have sex all
your life and never be intimate with a person. There has to
be empathy in the relationship. You have to enjoy seeing through
their eyes. When you're with them, you're there and not thinking
about what you're gonna do tomorrow.
O: Doesn't intimacy require a fully opened heart?
JF: Well said. You can think that you have a fully opened
heart, but as with an onion, there are layers to the heart.
You can think it's fully opened and then discover a whole
new layer.
O: Don't you think that what has happened to you-
this finding your voice, continuing to grow - is possible
for everybody?
JF: Not
for everybody. Some people have been wounded beyond repair.
Some people just can't come back. And at best, they can maintain.
that notwithstanding, I think anybody else can. But you have
to be prepared to take leaps of faith. You have to be brave.
At the end of my second marriage, I had a nervous breakdown.
I needed a wheelbarrow to carry my heart: I thought it weighed
ten pounds. I thought blood was coming through my skin. I
would step outside and be shocked the sky was still blue.
How could the sky still be blue when life was such pain? I
couldn't believe I could hurt so bad. I couldn't speak above
a whisper. That was when Ted first called me and asked me
out. I said, "I can't talk; I'll call you back."
Then I thought, If God is asking me to suffer this much, there
has to be a lesson." And my friends were telling me,
"You have to keep busy." I just sat at home. I was
careful who I had around me. I would take bike rides with
my girlfriends. And I began to notice these coincidences -
like the incredible people who came into my life.....
O: Because you pay attention.
JF: Yeah. I wasn't living authentically before, but I didn't
realize it. So what's the lesson? Don't give up. There are
lessons to be learned even in the most horrendous pain. And
you don't know that when you're young.
O: Maya Angelou had taught me, when I'm in the deepest
pain, to say, "Thank you, God." Because no matter
how dark the day, there's a rainbow. So now I say, "God,
what are you gonna teach me?" And that makes it about
the lesson, not about the event.
JF: Exactly.
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 O:
Jane, it's rumored that you're going back into theater.
Is that true?
JF: I would love to do theater if it resonates with me and
speaks to things I really want to say.
O: Was your appearance at the Academy Awards this
year a coming out?
JF: No,
O: It sure looked like one - if that wasn't a coming
out, I don't know what is! What was that?
JF: Fun, Apparently [the show's producers] called [my friend]
Paula, who used to be my agent, and she said, "We want
Jane to present a special award." Paula called me right
after the separation was announced. I was still in the crying
stage, and she said, "You better do the Academy Awards."
And I said, "I can't do that! People will resent it.
I'm not in the business anymore. It looks like I'm trying
to hog the limelight." And she plain bullied me into
saying okay. About 15 years ago, I had hosted with Robin
Williams and Alan Alda and wore this fabulous dress. I said
to Paula, "I've got just the dress!"
And she said, "You're not gonna wear a dress that you've
won before! Are you kidding? Ask Vera Wang." And Vera
Wang made my dress!
I raise money every year for [charity] - and I auction everything
but my underwear - and [after the Oscars] I thought, I'll
auction the dress! That got into the papers - and then I
got to liking the dress. So I got a second round of publicity
saying I'm not gonna sell the dress, I'm going to wear it
for a year and then sell it!
O: Did you feel sexy when you walked out onstage?
JF: I owned the stage. I was inside my body. I was a little
worried when I had to turn - I had on heels that were about
four inches high. I was curious about how I would feel being
back [in Hollywood] I felt welcomed. I went to the parties
and I sat there thinking, Everybody is so nice, and I'm
so glad I don't live here! I've done it already. And I wouldn't
go back there if you paid me.
O: Even if I paid you a lot?
JF: A lot Because at my core, I'm an activist. And California
is so big, and the problems are so vast, that you never
feel you have an impact. Here, I can matter.
O: Who are you now, Jane?
JF: Who am I? I'm a survivor. I'm a woman with tremendous
inner resources and resilience. I care about people. I believe
in "Do unto others as you would have others do unto
you." and I live by that. I am becoming authentic,
and that's important to me. I have surpassed both my parents
in terms of emotional stability, happiness and well-being.
And I'm a lucky woman. I deserved my luck.
O: Do you believe you created your luck?
JF: No. I think that, like most of us, I was born with an
innate goodness. And I believe that god has protected me
through times when I should have died so I could fulfil
my potential to do his work.
O: The Bible says "Many are called, but few
are chosen." Do you believe you're called?
JF: I believe I'm called.
O: And what is your calling?
JF: To provide opportunities for people who don't
have the opportunities they should.
O: Have you had different callings in your three
acts?
JF: The innate calling is the same.... I've always felt
like a teacher. Whenever I've learned something important,
my reaction has always been tell everybody about it. I read
a book, I buy 100 copies and send them out.
O: Tell everybody!
JF: That's what I live for.
O: Is there anything about the third act that scares
you, Jane?
JF: No
O: Not even death itself?
JF: Not at all. I feel so full. I just feel good. I'm 62,
and I'm finding my voice. I mean, if that' not fabulous
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O: That is!
JF: Ted said, "People your age aren't supposed to change!"
I said, "Oh?" I can't tell you what living in
Atlanta means to me. I can't tell you the opportunity to
hangout with my girlfriends means to me. I feel like the
world is before me.
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