Jane Fonda Says She Had a “Nervous Breakdown” During Season 1 of ‘Grace and Frankie’
Jane Fonda opened up about her “nervous breakdown” while filming season one of Grace and Frankie.
The 81-year-old actress said that her character’s plot triggered feelings of “abandonment” in her own life.
Fonda continued filming six seasons of the show because she learned to recognize the importance of her characters message of giving power to older women.
Jane Fonda has been extremely open about her health in the past. She’s revealed that she suffered from poor body image and had multiple plastic surgeries. The 81-year-old actress and model has also had numerous procedures to treat breast cancer, skin cancer, and other corrections to her back, hip, and knees.
Now, Fonda is getting candid about her mental health. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she opened up about the emotional “breakdown” she experienced while filming season one of her hit Netflix show Grace and Frankie.
“I had a nervous breakdown during the first season, and I discovered it’s because the very first episode our husbands tell us that they are going to leave us after 40 years and marry each other and that triggered abandonment,” Fonda recalled, choking up a bit.
The actress has been married three times in her life. The longest marriage was with her second husband of sixteen years, Tom Hayden.
Grace and Frankie, which also stars Fonda’s longtime friend Lily Tomlin, tells the tale of two 70-something best friends whose husbands had left them to date each other. “It was a big trigger, and I didn’t realize that a character in a comedy could actually trigger something very profound,” she said. “And so I love her and I learned to invite her into the room.”
After the first season, Fonda said that she couldn’t have written a backstory for her character, but then she “wrote 30 pages without ever stopping.”
Fonda, who was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2017 for her portrayal of Grace, also admits that she didn’t want to be anything like Grace Hanson, but says that they have “so much in common.”
Through the show’s five seasons, Fonda has learned to embrace her role and recognizes the cultural importance of her character. “[Our] culture doesn’t like people with wrinkles to be talking about sex. And kids don’t like to think about their parents doing it, either,” she said. “But the fastest-growing demographic in the world is older women, and a lot of them are doing it very pleasurably.”
“When I was in my 40s, I said before I die I want to be part of giving a cultural face to older women, and I can’t tell you how much feedback Lily [Tomlin] and I get from older women who say it’s given them hope-and not-so-old women who say, “I now see another way forward.”
We’re glad Fonda pulled through, because we’re so excited for season 6 of Grace and Frankie, premiering in 2020!
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