Jane Fonda pays emotional tribute to Ted Turner: Rethinking their relationship

But the star couple and their 10-year marriage from 1991 to 2001 (their third each) were among the most enduring and fascinating relationships of that era, and a major chapter in Turner’s colorful life, which ended on May 6 at his home near Tallahassee, Florida, at the age of 87.

Fonda, 88, paid tribute to Turner in an Instagram post on May 6.

“He suddenly came into my life, a wonderfully handsome, very romantic, adventurous pirate. I have never been the same,” Fonda wrote. “He needed me. No one let me know that they needed me, and the person who needed me was no ordinary person. This was a man who was the founder of CNN and Turner Classic Movies, and who won the America’s Cup as the world’s greatest sailor. He had a great life, a brilliant mind, and a great sense of humor.”

In their heydays, the pair attended Turner’s Atlanta Braves baseball games together, held hands on the red carpet at the 62nd Academy Awards, and showed off their star power at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Fonda, who gave up her acting career at Turner’s insistence, admitted that her roles on the world stage were often supporting roles.

Occasionally, the tables were turned, such as in a meeting with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in the Kremlin in 1990. Ms. Fonda wrote in her 2006 memoir, “My Life So Far,” that Mr. Gorbachev spent most of the three-hour meeting speaking directly to her.

Ted Turner Maverick media mogul and CNN founder dies at 87

If Mr. Turner was annoyed at losing the spotlight in front of world leaders, he turned the event into a fascinating story, entertaining listeners by saying, “I spent 28 minutes staring at Mr. Gorbachev’s back.”

How did Ted Turner and Jane Fonda meet?

Even their introduction was colorful enough for a Hollywood movie script. The day after Fonda’s divorce from her second husband, politician Tom Hayden, was announced in 1988, her phone rang. It was Turner, whom Fonda had only met once. Fonda wrote in her memoirs:

“Suddenly, I heard a loud voice coming from the phone and I had to take the receiver away from my ear: “Are you sure?” “Are you sure?” I thought it was a strange way to start a conversation on the phone with a virtual stranger. “Are you and Hayden really getting a divorce?” “Yes. ‘I was still in the midst of depression and couldn’t speak above a whisper. “So, would you like to go out with me?” I was surprised. ”

Fonda ignored Turner and told him to call back in three months. That’s what he did. Until that day. Turner gave her a warm hug at the end of their first date and asked if she could call him the next day. He did just that, inviting Fonda to his ranch in Montana.

During a trip to Montana, Fonda was struck by Turner’s honesty and felt dizzy at his “lack of censorship.”

“‘I think you’re perfect for me,'” Ms. Fonda wrote of Ms. Turner’s abrupt conversation. “‘We care about the same issues. We’re both achievers and we’re both in the entertainment industry. You need someone who’s as successful as you are. And I’m more successful than you, which is good. The last two movies you did were real dogs. Let’s admit that.’

When their relationship was strong, the couple was often just as happy behind the scenes as on camera. “Sometimes something would cause me to burst into laughter and sink to the floor, like the night I collapsed with laughter at the foot of the stairs in Gone with the Wind at the Avalon Farm and had to crawl onto my hands and knees into bed,” Fonda wrote.

When did Ted Turner and Jane Fonda get married?

“We had been going great for almost two years when we got married at Avalon in 1991,” Fonda wrote.

However, the marriage soon turned into heartbreak. More than a month after their December 21, 1991 wedding, and after Turner was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year, Fonda discovered that Turner was having an affair. Of confronting her husband outside the CNN Center in Atlanta, Fonda wrote:

“I got behind the wheel and got in the car, and Ted was blue in the face. That’s when I started hitting him in the head and shoulders with the car phone. At the same time, part of me thought, “I’ve never seen anyone do this in a movie, and what a great scene this would be.” (Am I the only one who thinks this way?) Then I poured the water bottle over his head and said, crying and shaking, “I hope it turned out great because you blew it with me.” I got out of here. ”It’s not my style to hit someone. But at the same time, I realized that maybe I had never given enough attention to expressing this kind of intense anger. ”

Turner literally begged for forgiveness. Fonda accepted, promising to “never let me down again” and to attend counseling with her.

“For seven of those years, Ted kept his promise,” Fonda wrote, adding that when she looked back on their marriage, she was “shocked by how happy we were most of the time.”

When did the marriage end?

In 2000, the couple announced their separation, and their divorce was finalized in 2001. Neither Turner nor Fonda remarried, and both spoke of their love for each other.

In a 2012 interview with Piers Morgan, Turner said, “When you love someone, and you really love them, you never stop loving them. No matter how hard you try, that’s just not possible.”

Jane Fonda calls Ted Turner ‘my favorite ex-husband’ on TCM carpet

Jane Fonda talks about Ted Turner on the red carpet at the TCM Classic Film Festival on April 30th. “My ex-husband, who I love, made a classic Turner movie,” Ms. Fonda said.

Speaking on the red carpet at the TCM Classic Film Festival on April 30, Fonda referred to Turner as “my favorite ex-husband” for creating Turner Classic Films.

“I loved Ted with all my heart,” Fonda wrote in a tribute on her Instagram on May 6. “I now see him in heaven with all the wildlife he helped bring back from extinction: black-footed ferrets, prairie dogs, bighorn sheep, Mexican gray wolves, Yellowstone wolf packs, bison, red-cockaded woodpeckers, and more, all gathered at the Pearly Gates to praise and thank him for saving their species.”

Fonda added: “Rest in peace, dear Ted. You are loved and will be remembered.”