The 85-year-old confessed, "I think about death a lot. I have for the last 30 years."
Jane Fonda has shared some hard truths about life and death. While the topic of mortality does make a lot of people feel uneasy, the 85-year-old confessed that she's thought a lot about it over the last three decades. Back in September, the Grace and Frankie star revealed on her Instagram page that she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. At the time she said it "is a very treatable cancer. 80% of people survive, so I feel very lucky." She explained that she had been undergoing chemo for six months, and was "handling the treatments quite well," adding that she "will not let any of this interfere with my climate activism."
Last month she revealed that her cancer is in remission. In an Instagram post she revealed that her oncologist told her that her cancer is "in remission and I can discontinue chemo." Sharing a photo of her at a climate rally in Washington, D.C., Fonda added that this news is the "BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER!!!" She wrote, "I am feeling so blessed, so fortunate." The Oscar-winning actress continued, "I thank all of you who prayed and sent good thoughts my way. I am confident that it played a role in the good news."
Her cancer journey made her confront thoughts about her mortality. She recently told ET that chemotherapy "hit me hard." She added, "It was the first time that I thought, 'OK, this is what most people experience.' Because the kind of chemo that I was taking wasn't so bad in the beginning," she said, adding that it got exhausting over time. When her cancer was in remission right before her 85th birthday it made her reflect on how life can be taken away from you in any moment. "I think about death a lot. I have for the last 30 years," Fonda shared. "I think that's a healthy thing to do. It's hard to live right if you don't think about death. It's a part of life," she added.
"Other cultures aren't so afraid of thinking about death as we are," she continued. "I spend a lot of time thinking about it and it's made my life a lot better. And when you get a cancer diagnosis, you think about it even more and you want to be sure you get the things done that you want to get done, so when the time comes you won't have a lot of regrets," she explained.
The actress has also previously admitted that she's loving her 80s, according to W Magazine. When she turned 80 she told the outlet that she is living "the best part" of her life but never really believed she would reach her age. "I never thought I would get to 80, and if I could have imagined what I would be, should I ever do the unlikely thing of living that long, I saw myself as a grouchy old woman, never that it would be a happy time for me," she said. "I'm 80 years old, and I can honestly say that this is the best part of my life. This is not what I expected at all, and I'm not finished," she added.
References:
https://www.wmagazine.com/story/jane-fonda-no-more-men
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by David Crotty
