When it comes to talking about ageing, Jane Fonda never fails to keep it real — and her latest revelations on the topic are just further proof. In a new interview for Glamour, the 84-year-old star looked back on her life and legacy, opening up about why staying healthy is “joyful and critical” in her twilight years and how she does just that.
Jane Fonda on why staying healthy is important
Posing alongside her first-ever Glamour cover from 1959 (when she was just 22!), Fonda admitted that as a young model at the time, she never believed she’d be reaching her mid-80s and still working. “If somebody had told me that, at almost 85 years old, I’d still be working as much as I am and feeling as good as I do, I wouldn’t have believed them,” she told the publication. “At that time in my life, I doubted I would live past 30. Just thinking about that filled me with hope. I didn’t give up. I kept going. I tried to get better. I did.”
Fast forward to age 60 and Fonda realised she was “approaching [her] third act — [her] final act — and that it wasn’t a dress rehearsal.” Not wanting to “end with a lot of regrets,” the activist decided she needed to reflect on where she’d been to “know where [she] was supposed to go.” And so, she embarked on a “life review,” she explained in the interview.
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Along with realising that she was “brave,” Fonda’s introspection seemingly reminded her of the importance of boosting your own confidence and taking care of yourself — two things that the star didn’t do when she was younger. “When you get older, you realise that staying healthy is joyful and critical because age isn’t so much chronology,” she said. “You can be very old at 84, which is my age, but you can also be very young.”
So how does Fonda maintain her signature youthful vibe? She sleeps “eight or nine hours” every night, meditates, tries to spend as much time in nature as possible, and works out. After all, she is a fitness legend.
“Your body is very forgiving when you’re young,” she continued. “But as you get older, if you drink too much one night or not get enough sleep, you’re at half-mast the next day and you don’t like the feeling and that’s a motivation to take better care of yourself.”
That’s some seriously sage wisdom from someone whose joie de vivre radiates through just about every single thing she does.
This story first appeared on www.shape.com
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