Jane Fonda is a lot of things: she's an Oscar-winning acting scion, a longtime political activist [1] and philanthropist, a former model, and an '80s fitness guru [2]. The 80-year-old actress [3] is also a mother, with both a daughter and son from previous relationships, as well as an unofficially adopted daughter whom she welcomed into her home as a teenager.
In the new HBO documentary Jane Fonda in Five Acts, Jane reflects on her career highs and lows as well as the men who influenced and guided her life, including her famous father, actor Henry Fonda, and her former flames. In fact, three of the "five acts" explore Jane's past unions, and she sheds light on how each of them helped shape the woman she is today — for better or for worse. The actress also talks openly about attraction, sexual chemistry, and the starry-eyed magic of her wild, whirlwind relationships. Keep reading to find out more about the men Jane has married.
Roger Vadim
In August 1965, Jane married her first husband, prominent French film director Roger Vadim [5]. They tied the knot in a small ceremony at the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. At the time, Jane was 28; Roger was 10 years her senior and known for being a womanizer (Jane was actually his third wife).
By the time he married Jane — who moved to Paris in the hopes of pivoting her reputation as the "girl next door" to more serious, sexier roles — he had already had previous romances with other beautiful actresses like Brigitte Bardot and Cindy Pickett. He shared a son with French screen siren Catherine Deneuve, and a daughter, Nathalie, from a previous marriage with Danish actress Annette Stroyberg. Nathalie and Jane formed a sweet bond, and the then-teenager considered her a strong mother figure.
One of Jane's most high-profile roles is the sexy space traveller Barbarella in the 1968 cult classic of the same name. Based on a French comic series, Barbarella sent Jane into '60s bombshell territory. The science-fiction flick was directed by Roger Vadim, and in her 2005 autobiography, My Life So Far [6], Jane revealed how tense things got for them on the set. Roger began drinking heavily during filming, and "his decisions about how to shoot scenes often seemed ill-considered." At the time, Jane was also struggling with bulimia, and as "a young woman who hated her body . . . playing a scantily clad, sometimes-naked sexual heroine," she was insecure about her appearance during production and photo shoots.
In September 1968, Jane and Roger welcomed a daughter, Vanessa, who was named after the legendary actress and activist Vanessa Redgrave. The couple divorced in 1973. Roger Vadim died of cancer in 2000, and Jane — along with fellow ex-wives Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Schneider, and Annette Stroyberg — was in attendance at his funeral.
Tom Hayden
On January 19, 1973, three days after officially divorcing Roger Vadim, Jane married antiwar activist and politician Tom Hayden in a casual ceremony at her home in LA. She was pregnant at the time, and that July, their son was born. Jane and Tom named their baby boy Troy O'Donovan Garity, after Viet Cong bomber Nguyen Van Troi and Irish revolutionary Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa. They gave him his paternal grandmother's maiden name, Garity, as "Fonda and Hayden carried too much baggage." [7]
Together, Jane and Tom — along with a young Troy and Jane's daughter, Vanessa — travelled the country, championing civil rights and antiwar causes, and they founded the Indochina Peace Campaign. Jane also made a slightly controversial visit to North Vietnam and Hanoi in 1972.
The couple eventually settled down in Santa Monica and even opened a Summer camp for disadvantaged kids on a ranch in Santa Barbara. It was there that Jane and Tom met Mary Luana Williams (known as Lulu), the daughter of Black Panther [8] members. In 1982, they invited 14-year-old Lulu to live with them [9] and unofficially adopted her [10].
Despite their happy blended family, Jane and Tom got divorced in June 1990. Troy is now a famous actor himself, with roles in Soldier's Girl, Bandits, and the Barbershop films. He currently stars on HBO's Ballers. Tom died in 2016 [11] at the age of 76.
Ted Turner
Jane shocked damn near everybody when she began dating billionaire TV tycoon and CNN founder Ted Turner. The two were married at a ranch in Florida on Jane's birthday, Dec. 21, 1991. She was given away by her son, Troy, who was 18 at the time.
Jane and Tom were married for 10 years before their divorce in May 2001. They have both opened up about the reasons for their split, with Jane calling out Ted's need for constant attention [12]. "He needs someone to be there 100 percent of the time," she told the New Yorker that year. "He thinks that's love. It is not love. It's babysitting. We went in different directions. I grew up."
The two have remained close friends and have continued to meet up with their families and attend events together. During one scene in her HBO documentary, while visiting Ted at his ranch in Montana, Jane calls him her "favourite ex-husband."