Jane Fonda, 85, shares why she won’t date anyone older than 20

Jane Fonda has said that if she was ever to date someone again she wouldn't want them to be older than 20.

The 85-year-old is a celebrated star of the screen and over the years she's had quite a tumultuous love life, having dated many men and married a few.

Her first husband was film director Roger Vadim, with the couple tying the knot in 1965 and welcoming a daughter three years later.

After they divorced in 1973 she married political activist Tom Hayden (the guy Eddie Redmayne played in The Trial of the Chicago 7).

They were together for 17 years before divorcing in 1990 and had a son together.

A year later Fonda married CNN founder Ted Turner and divorced a decade after that.

She continued to date after that, but after breaking up with record producer Richard Perry in 2017 she was asked what she'd learned about her love life and said: "Nothing. I'm not cut out for it."

A year afterwards she said that now she'd reached the age of 80 she wasn't dating any more and had 'closed up shop down there'.

Five years on from that she's laid out her conditions for getting back into dating, saying (perhaps not entirely seriously) that 'he'd have to be 20' because she wasn't a fan of 'old skin'.

Fonda was appearing on Absolutely Not, a podcast by comedian Heather McMahan, when she was asked about dating in her 80s.

She said: "I'm ashamed to say this but if I were to take a lover he'd have to be 20. Because I don't like old skin. I don't."

Her comment got a lot of laughter from McMahan, who said she was 'right there with you' on not liking old skin and quipped that she was 'doing everything I can to keep it fresh'.

The clip was posted to TikTok where some people took offence against it, wondering what the reaction might have been had an 85-year-old man said he'd only date a 20-year-old woman.

However, plenty of others pointed out that it was almost definitely a joke and you shouldn't expect Jane Fonda to be strutting down any red carpets with a 20-year-old man on her arm any time soon.

"People really don't understand what a joke is!" one person wrote, while another suggested that she was 'just saying 20 for comedic effect'.

Then again, some people were hoping she was serious as someone else wrote: "I'm here, Jane."

Well, he tried.

Featured Image Credit: Michael Kovac/Getty Images for LACMA/John Lamparski/Getty Images for The Women's Media Center

Topics: Celebrity, Sex and Relationships

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker