Jane Fonda: My life had no meaning before activism

8 March 2021

Jane Fonda says her life "had no meaning" before activism.

Jane Fonda

The 83-year-old actress "changed" her life when she decided to raise awareness for the climate change crisis by vowing to never buy clothes again and began her Fire Drill Fridays protests.

Speaking to Jameela Jamil for jewellery company Pomellato, Jane said: “People need meaning in their lives, I had no meaning in my life. Activism is joyful, it means the world to me, that’s how it’s changed my life.”

'The Book Club' star says she was able to turn her life around after experiencing trauma and was able to grow from healing.

She revealed: “I know how profoundly a human being can change because I have. I think it’s important to understand why they’re there, how you got the wounds, look at them square in the eyes, and then trying to forgive the cause of the wounds. That’s the most important thing."

Speaking about her jewellery, which has two beautiful black stones had been broken and then joined together with gold, she added: “You know what it reminds me of? When you lift weights enough and they’re heavy enough so that they’re challenging you … you’re causing microscopic tears in your muscles. When they heal, they’re stronger than muscle was before it tore. That’s what [the jewellery] is.”

Jane hopes she is an "optimist" as she believes that is up to women to come together and get organised so they can change the world.

She explained: “I’m hopeful, I am. I like the word ‘hope’ better than ‘optimism’, ‘hope’ is a profound word. Women are in leadership positions and will make the difference. We are the fastest-growing demographic; there’s more women than men.

“We are leaders all over the world. As Gloria Steinem says, ‘It’s not that we’re morally better than men, we just don’t have our masculinity to prove.’ Women need to understand the power of us getting together and getting organized. Individually, we’re totally vulnerable, but when we are together and organized, that’s how we’re gonna change the world … and it’s really up to us.”