Ted Danson's Life Was Changed After Arrest With Jane Fonda

Ted Danson made a virtual visit to the set of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and he and host Ellen DeGeneres discussed his 2019 arrest alongside actress and activist Jane Fonda. Danson admitted that the arrest was a life changer for him, despite his previous record of activism for the environment.

Ted Danson Spills Arrest Details To Ellen DeGeneres

Ted Danson was promoting his new show Mr. Mayor on Ellen this morning when DeGeneres asked the actor about his experience getting arrested in 2019. Danson, along with Jane Fonda and several other climate change protestors, were arrested in October 2019. DeGeneres asked, “Was that your first time getting arrested?” Danson laughingly answered, “Yes. Yes, it was.”

When a photo of Danson’s arrest flashed across the screen, Danson explained, “You can see it was kind of an exciting moment that I delighted in, mostly because I was with Jane Fonda.” The arrest took place during “Fire Drill Fridays,” a monthly protest event hosted by Fonda. Danson couldn’t say enough kind things about Fonda, whom he referred to as “one of my real inspirations in life.”

A Proud Moment For Danson

After being arrested, Danson confessed that he realized he’d been “hiding behind” the work he’d done on behalf of “ocean issues,” which he’d been working on for about 30 years. “’I’m saving the oceans’ kind of thing,” he ruefully added. “I think that arrest made me want to double down on climate change. And yeah, it meant a lot to meet her. It kinda changed my life.”

Though arrests are usually a low point in most people’s lives, that obviously wasn’t the case for Ted Danson. Even if the photo of him grinning from ear to ear with his hands bound in zip cuffs, Danson is clearly very proud of the mark on his police record, especially since it was for a good cause. His famous co-conspirator probably had something to do with his mile-wide smile that day, too.