In our youth-obsessed culture, there is a fixation on vilifying women for simply doing what they’re meant to do as people: age. But Jane Fonda is not having it. In a recent interview with CBS News Sunday Morning, the 84-year-old actress opened up about getting older. “I’m super-conscious that I’m closer to death. And it doesn’t really bother me that much,” Fonda said. The Grace and Frankie star also noted that for her, it’s more about how you feel, rather than the birthday you’re celebrating. “You know, you can be really old at 60, and you can be really young at 85,” she said.
Fonda also opened up about the lifestyle changes she has made over the years, including giving up alcohol so that she can squeeze more out of each day. “If I had a martini tonight, I would be at half-mast tomorrow,” Fonda said. “Now, that wasn’t true when I was younger. As you get older, I think alcohol affects you differently. And I only have so many tomorrows left. I don’t want to be at half-mast for any of them!” she said. (Research has shown that the risks associated with booze increase with age. According to Harvard Medical School experts, this is because the body’s ability to metabolize alcohol drops.)
With her commitment to living each day at full-mast, Fonda’s comments are a refreshing, welcome take on aging. Research has found that many women experience negative feelings about their self-worth and body image as they grow older. In one study of more than 1,800 women over age 50, the participants noted that as they advanced in years, they felt irrelevant or invisible, targeted by ageist remarks, or dissatisfied with the way their body was changing. In her recent interview, Fonda also expressed some of these negative feelings, but still tempered them with her usual optimism.
“What bothers me is that my body is, you know, basically not mine! My knees are not mine, my hips are not mine, my shoulder’s not mine.” In recent years, Fonda has undergone two knee replacements and two hip replacements, but she expressed gratitude for where she is today. “I mean, I’m almost 85,” she said. “The fact that I’m still alive and working…. Who cares if I don’t have my old joints and I can’t ski or bike or run anymore?”
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That doesn’t mean she doesn’t stay active, though. And by the looks of her Instagram, she is still making it a priority. During the early 1980s, Fonda garnered widespread popularity for her aerobics-based workout videos, with the Original Jane Fonda Workout becoming one of the top-selling VHS tapes of all time.
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These days, Fonda shakes up her fitness routine with resistance band side-steps, posture training, and strength training, sharing her workouts with her 1.8 million followers on Instagram. “I have osteoarthritis, so I can’t lift heavy weights or anything,” Fonda told Well + Good in 2020. “I use resistance bands, and I do floor work, and I work every muscle group but I do it slowly and very intentionally.”
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Source: SELF
