Jane Fonda: "Prime Time"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-08-11/jane-fonda-prime-time
No one looking at Jane Fonda today would consider her “over the hill.” The seventy-three-year-old author, actress, and workout pioneer looks to be in the prime of her life. In her best-selling memoir, My Life So Far, Fonda focused on the first half of her life – which she calls Acts I and II -- with an eye toward preparing for a vibrant Act III. Now, she has written a new book that explores how this third act can be an opportunity to become the people we were always meant to be. She explores how re-thinking exercise, diet, and relationships can transform the so-called golden years. Jane Fonda talks with Diane about her life today and why she is the happiest she’s ever been.
Guests
Jane Fonda
actress, producer, activist, philanthropist, and author.
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Jane Fonda responds to a caller, a self-identified Vietnam veteran, who thanked her for her protests against the war:
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Read an Excerpt
Excerpted from "Prime Time" by Jane Fonda. Copyright 2011 by Jane Fonda. Excerpted here by kind permission of Random House:
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There are many Americans who loath "Hanoi Jane" Quite frankly I don't know how she can show her face in public. There is evidence that American POW's were tortured and some killed because of her escapades in Vietnam during the war. Her career as an actress was greatly diminished by these activities but many feel justice was never served for what many rightly call treason.
http://www.1stcavmedic.com/jane_fonda.htm
I admire Jane for her courage in opposing Nam. Did you know that Agent Orange contamination yet causes birth defects there?
Might does not make right. Is it not mob rule and consequences?
Jane was just a naive, rich-kid actress who now regrets any pain she caused by her “photo-op”. I may be wrong, but I don’t recall her creating the lie called, THE GULF OF TONKIN RESOLUTUION. Did she have a press conference to announce that? Were you there Monte? Please share your notes with us.
LBJ was just doing as he was told, and got us involved in that quagmire that cost us 58,000+ lost lives for what?
Oh, I got a good one; how about the WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION LIE? And since we ordered before midnight tonight, we also get THE PATRIOT ACT I and II!
M, go back to watchin’ The Faux News Channel and worshipping anything Billy O’Really has to say(...journalism, oh really...?).
I’m willing to bet you got your BUSH-CHANEY 2000 yard sign framed?
If you do your research, you’ll find out that 20,000+ more of Gulf War 1 veterans, as of May 2007, have died of all causes(I don’t think old age is one of them), than were perished in Vietnam.
As long as a private central bank controls any nation, you are going to get more of this.
http://www.youtube.com/user/amy2x#p/search/0/X1RGWTtIUXM
were you there? Or are you just another rich kid like her?
Hey joeincinci,
How does it feel to have your clock cleaned, because CIB just did it.
Jane Fonda didn't mind causing pain and anguish to our prisoners of war. I listen to your show every day but its a discrace to give this person a public forum when so many of our young men and women are sacrificing themselves overseas.
CIB wrote:
were you there? Or are you just another rich kid like her?
August 11, 2011 - 11:00 am
CIB, I didn't create the lie, and I certainly didn't send you.
Reread my initial post, and watch the link.
I'm not a Jane Fonda fan and I'm not a 'rich kid'.
When you say rich kid, are you talkin' about Bush, Jr.? Kerry?
Take care CIB.
Peace,
Joe in Cinci
What advise would you give people who basically have never exercised or have let a lot of time pass since they have and say, "I can't do what you do. It's too late for me to even try." Personally I feel that it's never too late. I would also apply the same question to having a sexual relationship.
Thank you for the book and the dvd. I plan on purchasing them both. Also I was a very devoted fan of your exercise Album, back when we had vinyl records. :-)
Thank you for taking my question.
Vickie
Just listen to this show. It is not about more or less imbecilic wars. It is about dealing with aging. What she says is quite interesting.
As a returned Viet Nam Vet, I remember a peace rally in Balboa park in San Diego with Jane and Donald Sutherland. I took some black and white photos of the event and still have these cherished photos.
Jane was on crutches and wearing a tattered cotton jacket.
She remains the personification of the ideal woman to me, warts and all. Ha!
I am a historian of women's history and have long admired Jane Fonda. I consider her an outstanding American woman. It has been my goal to interview her for my work at a major institution on the subject of women's military history. She has been used by the military in a way that we wish to document in women's military history.
If only she or her representative will contact me at viningm@si.edu. 202.633.3924
Thanks so much.
Margaret Vining
People who criticize Jane Fonda for what she did in Vietnam are idiots. She was right. The US attacked a small, third world country and tried to bomb it into oblivion.
Now having said that, I think your initiative to invite Miss Fonda to show an example of somebody who aged gracefully is misguided.
Of course she aged gracefully! She never worked a single day in her life. Never had to worry about money, doesn't know what financial stress is. Always had to worry in which luxury house to spend her time. I also expect Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie to age gracefully.
Why don't you invite a 73 year old retired high school teacher, or even a lawyer to show us how grateful they aged? Some did, and it's all to their credit. Aging gracefully was very easy for Jane Fonda. Sorry, I'm not impressed!
Philippe Orlando
<3 <3 <3 this !
It's about grace, gracious, graciousness.
A willingness to deal, and make things move on as gracefully as possible.
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience, comes from bad judgement. Mark Twain?
There is a lesson everywhere you look.
Problem is, everyone has been hijacked by electronics and they don't have time to look!
Can't wait to get your book!!!!!!!
XOXmolly
At a time when being part of a herd is the trend, it is refreshing to see someone that lived her life on her own terms.
I am a big fan of yours, and had a huge crush on your Dad! I'm 64 and on the staircase.
My Mother has Alzheimer's and I have a 2 yr old granddaughter, I'm in the middle of the pathway of parent, grandparent and mother for my mother. I'm moving out of a home where we raised 5 children and my husband and I are looking forward to a new page.
I was treated for depression many years ago, but I am now moving , with my age, up the stairway to renew my life, no regrets, pursue my art and live with happiness and the big key to this, is truly caring for others, family and strangers, that is my spreading ripple. I can't wait to read your book! Joni Kirby
Supporting or opposing the war is not the issue. A lying government that continued the war at a terrible cost is not the issue. The fact that kids without resources to get a phony doctor's note, take classes in how to game the draft, or keep their student deferment forever is not the issue. Jane had every right to speak out against the war. The issue is that she gave aid and comfort to the enemy and in so doing caused the suffering of American POWs. Perhaps she did not understand the consequences of her actions, but that's a thin excuse when the health, well-being, and lives of people are at stake. It's nice that Jane can enjoy a "third act" in her life. Some 58,000 American soldiers never got to enjoy the first.
Diane asked Jane about having plastic surgery but says she (Diane) won't do it (face lift) because she wants her grandchildren to recognize her. I'm not sure Diane is being honest since it appears she has had injectibles which although are not surgery, definitely alter your appearance and make you look younger.
58,000 Americans are casualty of US government's lies and this is were blame should be placed. This gets weighted against 2,000,000 of Vietnamese casualties. An imaginary, dehumanized enemy of US government may not necessarily be our enemy.
The picture was a bad judgement and she admitted it.
Thank you so much for this perspective on aging. I am a 55 yr old woman and I struggle daily with acceptance of myself as a "mature" woman. I need to hear more about positive aging.
I especially appreciate your comments and stories regarding sexuality- thank you again.
It's more than the picture, sane.
According to http://www.snopes.com/military/fonda.asp, Jane said American POWs were being treated humanely and called them liars for claiming they were tortured. Behavior like that encouraged the NVA/VC. Support the war or not, helping the enemy kill the kid down the street is not exactly honorable.
I greatly admire Jane Fonda; I am her age and her previous book on aging and the accompanying workout tape was very helpful to me. Her career, as well as her work on social justice and anti war activities, is also to be admired. Almost everyone responsible for policy during the Viet Nam era, e.g.McNamara, agree that the war was a tragic mistake. A letter entitled “traitor” circulating on the internet contains a lot of bogus information regarding Fonda’s visits to Viet Nam. Monte should not believe everytjing that lands in his in-box.
It is interesting we focus on her. How about our traitors that by committing war crimes on our side betrayed our own ideals.Each war has just new crop of them.
The fact about Jane Fonda's activities during the Vietnam war are part of the public record. Her denunciation of POW's as war criminals, her accusations that POWs were liars and not tortured, her appreciation of the Soviet Union for backing North Vietnam. It's all there. No she did not hand over notes from the POWs to their captors but she did do just about everything else she has been accused of since the war.
To allow her to skate by on your program with her regurgitated halfhearted apology for the picture of her seated behind the North Vietnamese anti-aircraft battery (as if that was the only action she was responsible for) shows either an willingness on your part to give her a pass as a liberal feminist icon or a complete lock of knowledge as to the facts.
Shame on you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was better that Jane Fonda did what she did during the Vietnam War than doing nothing. How can those who have done nothing to stop or question any war criticize her efforts? If she speeded US withdrawal one hour that's an eternal plus. People who continue fighting lost wars in their heads are like hungry buzzards. They love the stench of death. The same dumb creeps who will demand we forget war crimes, and environmental atrocities and fixed elections from the year before remain fixated on mass murders committed before they were born. Propaganda is powerful, but an atrocious waste of money. Lies maintained with ignorant aggression are part of our nightmare of structural violence.
Still, Jane is only a spectacle and curiosity because celebrity worship is always and forever a bad thing. (I consider Diane a personal friend and not a celebrity. Her weaknesses are on public display each week and she comes out pretty well.)
And, money always tries to buy back youthfulness, but purchases only a bogus counterfeit disfigurement. It is almost impossible to deceive the conscious mind in its perception of old age in its own person. What monsters would be created if 70 year olds could steal 15 year old bodies! Diane and Jane (and I) are old, and there lies much of our value as human beings. Don't pretend to be what you're not: It's always unflattering. It is a mystery to me why people would assume most people aged 70 would not know as much or more than Jane Fonda about how to live a good life. (Oops, the money thing again!) I hope she's campaigning to preserve Social Security and Medicare.
As one poster noted, many Americans are still bitter regarding Fonda's conduct during the Vietnam War. I am not one of them, even though I am a Vietnam veteran.
However, an email I recently received from a friend about Fonda caused me to reflect on how Americans responded to the Vietnam War.
Those reflections can be read at http://open.salon.com/blog/mark_ira_kaufman/2011/07/04/hanoi_jane_chicke...
There is NO evidence "American POW's were tortured and some killed because of her escapades in Vietnam during the war..."
This is urban legend has been thoroughly debunked.
It began with an email that started circulating in 1999, and is still making the rounds in various editions. (The latest version is a fake letter from Barbara Walters, which claims that President Obama is going to honor Fonda as one of the "100 Women of the Century."
While some of her behavior in North Vietnam was indefensible, nobody was killed or tortured because of what she did.
Monte, back in 2006 I met a nice gentleman here in the Cincinnati area(Reading) who was in charge of the touring VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL(FUND), WWW.VVMF.ORG
I had a good talk with him for about a half hour, bought whatever I could for support, and went home and joined WWW.VVMF.ORG
I don’t know if you voted for Bush/Chaney, that’s your business. I don’t know if you watch Fox News, I don’t care.
I’m just upset when I watch the riots in UK, knowing that it could be us next.
All it’s going to take is an ‘event’, and cities like Chicago, LA, Atlanta, Miami, NYC, or you name it, and they could be burned down.
We had our own mini-UK riot here in downtown Cincinnati back in 2000 after the Timothy Thomas shooting. I know what it’s like to have to be back in my home by 9 PM curfew.
Should Jane not have posed in those pictures? I don’t know. Is she a spoiled, rich kid “...who never worked a day in her life...”, and therefore, can AGE GRACEFULLY? I would think so.
If we don’t start jailing some banksters who are stealing trillions from us/U.S., if we don’t start exposing these criminals, past and present in D.C. who long ago sold our country out, then we might as well give up.
Let Diane have whoever she wants on her show, I think we still have a First Amendment.
Either we stick together, and fight the tyrants, or we’ll all end up our knees, except Jane, she’ll probably go hide in her home in Malibu or Atlanta.
Oh wait, Atlanta is on my burn list, make that Malibu.
Diane,
I loved your interview with Jane Fonda today. She really is able to express the "third" stage with eloquence and passion. Her comment on forgiving really makes great sense. Her honesty and ability to define how there is so much to look forward to in life was inspiring. I so agree as a 53 year old that we really can plan our own destiny in terms of our health as we "age". I believe she has the gift of sending an inspirational message to the baby boomer generation. The best is yet to come but we need celebrities to get the message out in a clear and concise manner as she did today with you steering her as you always do in all of your interviews. I hope you can send her this message as she made my day and I am sure many others. I want to thank you both as we all enter into a time that I believe will be eventually considered the best time of our lives!!
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
"Grady Lee Howard wrote: "
Well, look who's here. It's Grady Lee the Coward. Hey, GLC, I guess you've been away scouring the DRS archives for that racist statement of mine that justifies your calling me that.
Well, we're all waiting! Let's hear it. You called me a racist. What is your evidence? Or were you just shooting off your mouth with nothing to back it up?
Grady Lee Coward wrote:
" Lies maintained with ignorant aggression "
Like this? "So it's OK for eggyonface to be a racist"
Show us that singular racist statement I must have made to justify that charge GLC.