Jane Fonda Says Director's Hurtful Words Almost Made Her Quit Acting After Her First Film

Mar. 15, 2025

Jane Fonda in 1960’s ‘Tall Story’ (left); Jane Fonda in 2024 (right).Photo:Screen Archives/Getty; Jon Kopaloff/Getty

Screen Archives/Getty; Jon Kopaloff/Getty

Jane Fondahas had a long and varied career — but she almost stopped before she even got started.

“I had decided after my first movie,Tall Story, that I was going to quit while I was ahead,” the 87-year-old actress toldVarietyin an interview published Feb. 19. “I didn’t enjoy the experience. And before we started shooting, Josh Logan, the director-producer, said to me, ‘You should have your jaw broken so your cheeks aren’t so puffy.’ Stuff like that really builds a girl’s confidence.” InTall Story, released in 1960, Fonda played a marriage-obsessed college student who connives to catch a husband.

Jane Fonda in ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ in 1961.Columbia Pictures/Getty

Columbia Pictures/Getty

Fonda ended up working in French New Wave Cinema for a time, which she said was great, in part because there she wasn’t known as justHenry Fonda’s daughter.

“The idea of not being so American, not being under my dad’s shadow, this was going to do it for me, going to Europe and working there,” she said. She ended up working with — and marrying — French director Roger Vadim, her first husband. They made four movies together, includingBarbarella.

Her time abroad also helped spark her political activism, which, she toldVariety, also affected what roles she chose and how she tried to put feminist themes in her movies.

Fonda’s long careerhas spanned the big screen, the small screen and the stage and has earned her an Emmy, two Oscars and eight Golden Globes. At thisSunday’s 2025 Screen Actors Guild Awards, theBook Clubstar will receivethe Life Achievement Award. She’s also beena vocal activistand attracted lots of fans withher fitness videos.

Jane Fonda with her second Oscar in 1979.Paul Harris/Getty

Paul Harris/Getty

“Here’s the truth: I’ve been hated,” she toldVarietyof her life in the public eye. “I know what it means to feel endangered. People have walked up to me with beautiful smiles on their face and gotten almost nose-to-nose and said, ‘I’d like to cut your f—— throat.’ I’ve had death threats and all of that. So to be popular is amazing.”

Back in 2023,Fonda told PEOPLE that she struggled a lot as a young personand creative. “Being young is really hard. Don’t let anyone kid you,” she said. “I wish when I was younger, someone had said to me, ‘Don’t give up. Keep going. It’ll get better.’ "

Jane Fonda in February 2025.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“I didn’t think I had talent. I didn’t think I was pretty enough. I hada lot of body dysmorphia,” she said of her early career. “I was pretty lost as a young person.”

But now, in her 80s, she said, she’s “the happiest I’ve ever been.” She added, “There’s been tragedy and hard things in my life. But I’ve never succumbed to them. I’ve been resilient all my life.”

source: people.com