From 1991 until 2000, Jane Fonda was married to Ted Turner, the billionaire media mogul responsible for founding CNN and Turner Broadcasting Channel, per Forbes.
According to Today, who reviewed Turner’s memoir, “Call Me Ted,” he pursued Fonda shortly after she divorced Tom Hayden, although it took her several months to agree to a date. But their marriage soon followed. According to the Los Angeles Times, the couple had an intimate wedding at Turner’s Tallahassee, Florida ranch one year later. Fonda’s last acting role before her mid-00s return was “The Earth Day Special,” which came out in 1990 just before she married Turner, per IMDb. This was a purposeful choice on Fonda’s part.
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During a January 2023 interview with Entertainment Tonight, Fonda discussed what led to her long break. “I left for 15 years when I married Ted Turner, and I did not think I was gonna come back, ’cause when I married him, I thought it’d be forever,” Fonda shared during a press run for “80 for Brady.” She added, “But I came back, and frankly if anybody told me that at 85, I’d be doing this kind of movie, I would have not believed them. So I feel very lucky.” Turner and Fonda divorced in 2001 after a decade of marriage
Although Fonda made the right choice for herself at the time, Turner took things hard after Fonda left him. “Our closets faced each other’s, and when I saw her empty space I sat down on the floor between them and cried,” wrote Turner in “Call Me Ted” (via Today).