Jane Fonda "assumed" she wouldn't live past 30 because of her eating disorder.
Jane Fonda battled bulimia for years
The 85-year-old actress has recalled how "unhappy" she was when she was in her 20s because she was battling bulimia and dealing with dissatisfaction in her career.
Speaking on the 'Call Her Daddy' podcast, she admitted: "In my 20s I was starting to be a movie actor. I suffered from bulimia very, very bad. I led a secret life.
"I was very, very unhappy. I assumed I wouldn't live past 30... I didn't go out. I didn't hardly date 'cause I was unhappy and I had this eating disorder. And then I was also making movies that I didn't very much like."
Jane noted that her eating disorder seemed "so innocent" and "so innocuous" at first but quickly became a "terrible addiction" that consumed her life.
She said: "It harms the way you look. You end up looking tired. It becomes impossible to have an authentic relationship when you're doing this secretly. Your day becomes organised around getting food and then eating it, which requires that you're by yourself and that no one knows what you're doing.
"It's a very lonely thing. And you're addicted. If you put any food in you, you want to get rid of it."
The '80 For Brady' actress thought she could "get away with it" when she was younger but the toll her problem took on her body as she got older became "worse and worse".
She said: "It takes days and then at least a week to get over one single binge. It's not just the fatigue. You become angry. You become hostile.
"All of the trouble that I got in was because of that anger and that hostility."
By the time she reached her 40s, Jane realised she was "going to die" if her habits continued.
She said: "I was living a very full life. I had children, I had a husband - I'd had two husbands by then - I was doing political work, I was doing all of these things. My life was important, but I was becoming less and less able to continue it."
The 'Barbarella' star quit "cold turkey" because she had no idea there were support groups available to help.
She said: "I didn't realise there were groups you could join. I didn't know anything about that. Nobody talked about it! I didn't even know there was a word for it.
"And so I just went cold turkey and it was really hard. But the fact is, the more distance you can put between you and the last binge, then the better it is. It becomes easier and easier."
And Jane found taking medication to be very helpful in her recovery.
She said: "A lot of the cause of it was anxiety-driven, and Prozac helped me deal with anxiety. And then, gradually, I just stopped doing it."
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