Julia Louis-Dreyfus interviews the actress in the first episode of her podcast, 'Wiser Than Me'.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus wants to learn a few things from those who have paved the way before her, starting with none other than Jane Fonda.
At the premiere of her new podcast, Wiser Than Me, Emmy Award-winning Seinfeld actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus chats with Jane Fonda, who discusses everything from body image to plastic surgery to regrets.
"We don't hear enough about the lives of older women," says Louis-Dreyfus, 62. "As women get older, they're less visible, less heard, less seen, in a way that men really don't. We ignore the wisdom of more than half the population."
And wisdom is something that Fonda, 85, is full of. "Spiritually, mentally, and psychologically, I'm much younger," says Fonda, who is wearing a Lululemon top. "One of the things I've learned as I get older is that when you're in it instead of looking at it from the outside, it's not as scary."
Fonda, who spoke to The Magazine in February ahead of the premiere of her latest comedy, 80 for Brady, says, "You have to stay in shape. I move around a lot. I just finished a workout." The "keyword," says the aerobics pioneer, is "'slow.' I do the same movements, but slower and with less weight," she explains.
"I appreciate my body," says Fonda. "I don't criticize or hate him anymore, but I live alone. I don't have to show it to anyone. I'm quite vain, so it would be very difficult for me to get N- in front of [someone]. It wouldn't be like that if I lived with someone for 50 years. No, I have too many blemishes, scars, holes, and all that stuff. I mean, I have two fake hips, one knee, one shoulder, and even a fake finger".
About the plastic surgery, Fonda says she's "sorry to say," but she's had it done. "I would have liked to grow old in peace with my face, but I didn't. I don't feel good about it; it's not real, but I can't do anything about it now."
She says women are held to many different standards than men when it comes to aging: "Their double chins fall off and nobody cares!"
And speaking of men, you won't find Fonda with a partner anytime soon or ever again. "Unfortunately, I don't think she can fully be myself in a romantic relationship with a man," she says. "I'm not interested in trying it again. It's not in me." Fonda had three marriages, most recently to Ted Turner.
Female friends, however, are something that she does not lack. "I never knew," she says, of the importance of having close female friends. "It wasn't until I was older. From the beginning of my life, I thought that if I was going to get ahead, I had to stick with my father's fame or some other man's."
According to Fonda, it wasn't until her daughter was born that she had "very shy" female friends. Being introduced to her world of activism opened her eyes even more. "It was the women activists who were primarily responsible for my new awareness and transformation. Being with them was like looking. through a keyhole in the world, we were trying to create. They behaved as we should all behave, with kindness, generosity, and humanity. I thought: Men have never treated me like this."
Do you regret anything? "I wasn't a very good mother," she says, and she admits that she hasn't forgiven him. "I talk to my kids about it, or try to, and try to understand why I did the things I did, and I try to stand up for them now in ways I didn't then. It's the main way I handle my regret." .
According to Fonda, just before her 60th birthday, she put a lot of effort into "investigating" herself, doing a "life review," as she calls it. "As you get older, you realize the importance of being intentional. That's why reviewing your life is important; understanding what things have meant in your life. That's how you gain wisdom.
As I prepared my third act, I discovered that you can spend your life exploring, as I did," says Fonda. "You go back to your childhood and become all those things that you should have been, that at the time you didn't know you really were. , because you were trying to be what other people thought you should be.
It's very, very hard to be young," says Fonda. "Personally, I think it's important to tell young people, 'It's not your fault. It's a very difficult thing.'"
What advice would she give to her 21-year-old "me"? "'No' is a complete sentence."
The legendary actress has lived a full life, and when it comes to dying, Fonda is fearless. "I almost look forward to it," she says. "It's like a new adventure."
Louis-Dreyfus' 10-episode podcast series, with new episodes weekly, features conversations with women in their 70s, including Carol Burnett, Amy Tan, Diane von Furstenberg, Isabel Allende, and Fran Lebowitz. "I'm going to talk to the older ladies," she says. "I want to know how they do it, how they did it, how they deal with aging and life. Give us advice based on your experience."
