Hours after the news broke that her third husband, CNN founder Ted Turner, passed away, Jane Fonda spoke out.
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In a post on Instagram, Fonda shared a throwback photo of her and Turner as she paid tribute to him.
“MY IMMEDIATE THOUGHTS ABOUT TED He swept into my life,” she wrote. “A gloriously handsome, deeply romantic, swashbuckling pirate and I’ve never been the same. “
She further shared, “He needed me. No one had ever let me know they needed me, and this wasn’t your average human being that needed me, this was the creator of CNN, and Turner Classic Movies, who had won the America’s Cup as the world’s greatest sailor. He had a big life, a brilliant mind and a soaring sense of humor.”
The actress also pointed out that it was “new” to her that he was able to take care of her. “To be needed and cared for simultaneously is transformative. Ted Turner helped me believe in myself. He gave me confidence. I think I did the same for him, but that’s what women are raised to do. Men like Ted aren’t supposed to express need and vulnerability. That was Ted’s greatest strength, I believe.”
Fonda then said that Turner had taught her more than any other person or school, mostly about nature and wildlife, hunting, and fishing. He also taught her about business and strategy.
“Ted was supremely strategic,” she continued. “It was likely innate, but he studied the Classics in college, knew about the [Peloponnesian] War inside and out, and the strategies used by Alexander the Great and even Genghis Khan. And sailing big boats as he did further honed those strategic talents, which he then brought into his businesses to much success. He could see around corners for sure.”
Besides Katherine Hepburn, Jane Fonda Said Her Ex-Husband Was the Most Competitve Person She Ever Met
Continuing to pay tribute to Turner, Fonda spoke about his competitive personality, noting he was the most competitive person she had ever met besides fellow actress Katherine Hepburn.
“Whether it was who’d made the most ski runs at the end of the day, to acres of land owned (stewarded is the more fitting word for his relationship to land), who had the most billions, how many countries he’d made love to his prior lover in, and could I match that, it was challenging,” she shared.
Although she noted that Turner was “challenging,” Fonda wrote she was always up for a challenge. “And with Ted, it was almost always worth it.”
Although their marriage didn’t last, Fonda said she loved Ted with all her heart.
“I see him in heaven now with all the wildlife he helped bring back from extinction – the black footed ferrets, the prairie dogs, Big Horned sheep, Mexican Gray Wolf, the Yellowstone wolf pack, bison, the red cockaded woodpecker, and so many more; they’re all gathered at the pearly gates applauding and thanking him for saving their species.”
Fonda then praised Turner’s family. “Five children survive him, five talented, complex kids who I had the privilege of becoming stepmother to. I had four stepmothers growing up and I know how important stepmothers can be, so we all did our best to build an extended, rag tag family, and I love them to this day. If it was complicated to be married to him, think how complicated it was being his child. And they are all doing fine.”
She finished the tribute by adding, “Rest in peace, dearest Ted. You are loved, and you will be remembered.”
Fonda and Turner were married from 1991 to 2001. Turner died from complications caused by Lewy body dementia.