Jane Fonda struggled to be ‘intimate’ with men due to relationship with her famous dad
Jane Fonda has revealed that she struggled to share intimacy with men after her father made her feel "unlovable".
Jane Fonda, now 85, has had a hugely successful career, but admitted in a new podcast interview that when it came to relationships with men, she hasn't been nearly as fortunate. Her father, Henry Fonda, spent five decades as a Broadway and Hollywood actor, but she says his influence left her feeling objectified and terrified to gain weight.
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Admitting that she was "miserable" in the "girl next door" role for which she was once famed, Jane spoke of the eating disorder that she endured, and said she had been battling against the influence of her father's generation.
"I [was] becoming a starlet, and there's so much emphasis on how you look," she sighed.
Quizzed on whether her relationship with her famous father had negatively impacted her romantic relationships, she was adamant that it had.
"I was determined that I was going to marry somebody that was the opposite of my father," she explained on the Call Her Daddy podcast.
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"I married three times [and] on the surface, they all looked the opposite of my father, but where it mattered, the ability to become intimate [was a struggle]," Jane continued candidly.
While her aim was to be "authentic, warts and all", she was disappointed to discover that the men she chose for partnerships made that difficult.
Jane added that by now, in her ninth decade of life, she has "overcome the effects" of having a famous father in showbiz.
"I've worked most of my life to overcome... the objectification and judgmentalism, and the unconsciously making me feel that I'm not lovable... if I'm not really thin," the former actress explained.
The Oscar winner previously admitted her father had told she needed to lose weight.
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The Barbarella star helped conquer her demons with what would become the most famous fitness video of all time - Workout, which was purchased by millions.
It was the highest selling VHS tape of the 20th century, and 21 more videos followed as Jane focused on regaining control of her shape and becoming strong rather than skinny.
Despite the progress, she remained scarred by the "objectification" culture of her father's era for a long time.
Henry had made his Hollywood debut way back in 1935, and she had become acutely aware of the way women were perceived in her father's generation in comparison to more modern times.
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Jane feels that each new generation "pushes back" against their parents' generation, and that a "trickle-down effect" has led to an improvement.
Yet back in the day she suffered crippling effects on her self-esteem and a series of incredibly "toxic" relationships with men.
The starlet was also deeply affected by losing her American socialite mother Frances to suicide when she was just 12 years old.
Her subsequent bulimia continued up until she was 35.
Reflecting back on her earlier years, Jane continued: "I was unhappy and I had this eating disorder and then I was also making movies that I didn't very much like."
She added: "[Bulimia] harms the way you look, you end up looking tired [and] it becomes impossible to have an authentic relationship.
"When you're doing this secretly, your day becomes organised around getting food and then eating it, which requires that you're by yourself and that no one knows what you're doing."
Jane Fonda was talking about her struggles on an episode of Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy podcast, which is available now on Spotify.
If you're worried about your health or the health of somebody else, you can contact SEED eating disorder support service on 01482 718130 or on their website. https://seedeatingdisorders.org.uk/
