Jane Fonda Didn't Think She'd Live to Be 80: "I Feel Very Blessed"

During an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the actress spoke about turning 80

By Elyse Dupre May 11, 2018 2:55 PMTags

Jane Fonda didn't think she'd live to be 80 years old.

The actress made this confession during Friday's episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

"If you had told me when I was 20 or 30 that I would actually still be acting, still active at 80 on a show like this, I would have said, ‘You're out of your mind. There's no way,'" the Klute star told Ellen DeGeneres. "No, I didn't think I'd live this long. Every day I get up, and I want to pinch myself. I feel very blessed, but I've worked for it." 

Fonda admitted she thought she'd "die lonely and probably from alcohol or something like that." 

"The fact that I'm not an addict, and I'm 80 and I'm working—it's just a miracle to me," she said.

Fonda said she's tried hard to stay healthy over the years and that she "wouldn't want to go back to [her 20s] for anything." She also suggested she appreciates the wisdom that comes with age.

"If you have a whole lot of time behind you and just a little in front of you, as is the case with me, I can look back and say, ‘Well, I've survived that,'" she said. "You know, friends have died. There's been divorces; there's been all kinds of difficult things. I survived. You don't sweat the small stuff, right? You don't make mountains out of molehills."

Fonda experienced a lot of tragedy in her early years. Her mother, Frances, committed suicide when Fonda was 12 years old. The actress also told People she had a "fraught adolescence" filled with insecurity and loneliness. In addition, she battled bulimia for decades and told the magazine she thought she'd die before turning 30.

Still, Fonda won two Oscars and built a fitness empire. Today, she's starring in a new movie called Book Club.

Fonda celebrated her 80th birthday in December. In fact, she revealed that she received 80 bottles of Tito's vodka as a gift. However, the star said she hasn't opened them yet because she still has other bottles to finish.

"I have a bar," she explained. "I've been married to three alcoholics. I love them all. They're great people, but I never had a bar. My last boyfriend had a bar in his house. What I realized is it's great to have a bar. It's like a focal point, a social focal point. So then I had to go and get the best tequila, the best vodka."

Watch the video to see the interview.