Jane Fonda: 'I Didn't Think I'd Live Past 30'

Jane Fonda turns 88 next month, which is more than a half-century longer than she thought she'd be around at one point. "I didn't think I'd live past 30," the Oscar winner said on Michelle Obama's podcast, per USA Today. "I was sure I was going to die. My youth was not especially happy." In the interview, Fonda recounted a turbulent childhood, including the suicide of her mother, socialite Frances Ford Seymour, when Fonda was 12. Battles with drugs and an eating disorder followed.

"I'm not addictive, but I thought I was going to die from drugs and loneliness," Fonda said, per the New York Post. "So, the fact that I'm almost 88 is astonishing to me, and what is even more astonishing is that I wouldn't go back for anything. I feel more centered, more whole, more complete. I'm very happy." Fonda, whose father was actor Henry Fonda, said the key shift came as she approached her 60s, deciding to treat that milestone as the beginning of her "final act." At this point, "I'm not afraid of dying," she said. "I'm afraid of dying with a lot of regrets."