Jane Fonda, 84, Opens Up About Health, Aging, and Her ‘Final Act’

Jane Fonda said she made some crucial life changes after reflecting on her life and how she wants to spend her remaining years.
The actress shared her secrets to a healthy lifestyle and feeling her best.
Plus, how the 84-year-old’s book might have influenced the way “Grace and Frankie” discussed sex.

Jane Fonda is a force. From her outlook on life to her glowing skin, the actress and activist is nothing short of a legend. And, one thing we love about the actress is that she often speaks her mind—she recently revealed that though she is grateful for her long life (Fonda has said on many occasions that she didn’t think she’d live past 30), she has become very aware of being “closer to death.”

In a new interview with Glamour, the 84-year-old opened up about staying healthy, aging, sexual health, and the life-changing moment she realized she needed to make some serious changes to make the most of her years.

“When I was about to turn 60, I realized that I was approaching my third act—my final act—and that it wasn’t a dress rehearsal,” Fonda admitted in the interview. “One of the things that I knew for sure is that I didn’t want to get to the end with a lot of regrets, so how I lived up until the end was what was going to determine whether or not I had regrets.”

The Grace and Frankie star reflected on her life in what she called a “life review,” to determine where it is she wanted to go with the time she has left. “It totally changed the way I thought about myself and about how I wanted to live the last third of my life,” she told Glamour. “And I realized the importance of being intentional about how we go through life.”

The former model revealed she noticed her body was no longer as forgiving as it once had been. In fact, she told Glamour, “I doubted I would live past 30.” But now with the excitement of her work and activism keeping her going, she decided to take

conscious steps to ensure she was making the best decisions to be her healthiest and happiest self.

“When you get older, you realize that staying healthy is joyful and critical because age isn’t so much chronology,” she said. “You can be very old at 84, which is my age, but you can also be very young.”

The 9 to 5 actress said she makes daily choices to help her live her best life. Fonda said she aims to get eight to nine hours of sleep per night, makes time to meditate, spends time in nature, and exercises regularly. But most importantly, Fonda explained that asking a lot of questions, reading books, and finding the positive in situations has helped her stay young.

“If you’re curious and you’re healthy and you’re open, eventually who you are and where you’re supposed to be will come to you,” she said. “For older people, if you stay curious, you will stay young for a long time. I’m younger now than I was when I was 20.”

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Sexual wellness is also incredibly important to Fonda as she ages. She revealed to Glamour that her book Prime Time, which focuses on getting older, was used in the writer’s room of Grace and Frankie to lend a first-hand account of the issues older women experience in the bedroom. “The problems of sex when you’re older and the joys and the possibilities and vibrators and all of that, and I think that maybe that helped inspire them,” she said.

Whatever inspired the writers, we love the way the show tackled aging and women’s sexual health. Though we have to admit we’re still reeling from the end of Grace and Frankie, we can’t wait to see what’s in store for Fonda!

Arielle Weg

Arielle Weg is the associate editor at Prevention and loves to share her favorite wellness and nutrition obsessions. She previously managed content at The Vitamin Shoppe, and her work has also appeared in Women’s Health, Men’s Health, Cooking Light, MyRecipes, and more. You can usually find her taking an online workout class or making a mess in the kitchen, creating something delicious she found in her cookbook collection or saved on Instagram.