"I’m trying to get it all done before I come to the end,” Fonda said.
Jane Fonda has revealed the biggest regret in her life is not knowing how to be a better parent to her children, reported New York Post. “I was not the kind of mother that I wish that I had been to my children,” the legendary actress, 85, said in an interview on February 19 on Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? She said, “I have great, great children — talented, smart — and I just didn’t know how to do it.”
She also remembered “forgiving” her father, Henry Fonda, before he died in 1982. She had strained relationships with him which improved towards the end of his life, per Independent. “Before he died, I was able to tell him, that I loved him and that that I forgave him for, you know, whatever didn't happen. And I hope that he would forgive me for not being a better daughter. I got to say that to him," she said. She further added, “It’s so important to try to clear everything up before you go.”
She also said in the interview that she’s not afraid of death, a sentiment she has expressed in the past as well. “What I’m really scared of is getting to the end of life with a lot of regrets when there’s no time to do anything about it. And it’s one reason that I try, I’m trying to get it all done before I come to the end,” Fonda told Wallace.
This comes after the actress also informed her fans last September that she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and is undergoing chemotherapy treatments.
Sharing her diagnosis in an Instagram post, Fonda wrote, “So, my dear friends, I have something personal I want to share. I’ve been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and have started chemo treatments." She added, “This is a very treatable cancer. 80% of people survive, so I feel very lucky.”
Fonda also added that she’s “lucky” to “have health insurance and access to the best doctors and treatment,” acknowledging that she is “privileged [sic]” as a celebrity. “Almost every family in America has had to deal with cancer at one time or another and far too many don’t have access to the quality health care I am receiving and this is not right,” she explained.
The star discussed that she has been undergoing chemo since March 2022 and is “handling the treatments quite well,” adding that she will not let the illness interfere with her climate-change activism.
Fonda called cancer “a teacher” and said she is “paying attention to the lessons it holds for me.” She added, “One thing it’s shown me already is the importance of community.”
Fonda has three children, daughter Vanessa Vadim, 54, with late ex-husband Roger Vadim, son Troy O'Donovan Garity, 49, and adopted daughter Mary Luana Williams, 55, both of whom she shared with her late ex-husband Tom Hayden. Fonda said she finally saw what good parenting is supposed to be thanks to her organization, the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention. “I know what it’s supposed to be now, I didn’t know then,” she said. “So I’m trying to show up now.”
References:
https://nypost.com/2023/02/21/jane-fonda-biggest-regret-is-not-being-a-better-mother/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9bPOP4PnlY
https://www.instagram.com/p/CiBDKLeJBy_/
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/jane-fonda-cancer-death-henry-fonda-b2284460.html
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Caroline McCredie
