Jane Fonda has spent a lot of her career reflecting on her relationship with sex. The 86-year-old actress has long been considered a sex symbol. In her 80s, she doesn't see sex as part of her present life.
The actress shared her feelings on sex in her 2021 Harper's Bazaar interview. She spoke about it in the context of her ability to change and evolve and shift depending on the what's going on in her life. It was a shocking thing for a woman whose celebrity has been so linked with sex to admit.
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It's not the first time that Jane has admitted that sex is in her past, however. She commented on the same a few years back when someone asked her what her sex life was like in her 80s.
Jane Fonda has been known for living an adventurous life with many twists and turns. In an interview with Harper's Bazaar, the now-85-year-old actress talked about what was described as her "chameleonic quality."
"Part of the reason I get into a relationship with a man is because I feel that he can take me down a new path," she noted.
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"I'm attracted to people who can teach me things and whose lives are different from mine, and so I give myself over to that," Jane continued.
"First of all, I want to please him. That's a problem."
"When I married Ted — I mean, marrying Ted is like marrying 15 people — you have to learn how to hunt, so I did. You have to learn how to fly-fish, so I did," she recalled.
"He liked me to dress sexy, so I did. And so forth. I wanted to. Why be with Ted Turner if you're not going to allow yourself to be absorbed in his reality and learn from it? And I'm glad I did."
Jane was then asked how her definition of intimacy has changed. With some pause, Jane made a pretty surprising admission:
"One of the painful things that I’ve realized by 80 — I don’t even know how old I am — 83, and single now. What I've had to really think about is that I'm not really capable [of intimacy]."
"It's not them. It's me. If a guy had come along and said, 'Come on, Fonda, show up,' I would have run away scared," she continued.
"I was attracted to men who never would have done that to me because they couldn't necessarily show up themselves. I didn't know that at the time, but now I know. I don't think I can do anything about it now, but that's the truth, as Lily [Tomlin] would say. That's the truth."
Jane last touched on her sex life in an interview with Tiffany Haddish, who was guest-hosting The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
"I need to know because you look so good: Are you still having sex? Are you having, like, crazy sex?" Tiffany asked.
"No, no, zero," Jane laughed in response.
"I don't have time. I'm old and I've had so much of it. I don't need it right now because I'm too busy!"
"My favorite ex-husband, Ted Turner, he always said, if you wait too long it grows over," Jane told Tiffany.
"I think he's right. I couldn't have sex again even if I wanted to."
