Our culture doesn’t like people with wrinkles to be talking about sex, says Jane Fonda

Team Udayavani, Jun 3, 2019, 11:36 AM IST

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Los Angeles: Veteran actor Jane Fonda believes people are still uncomfortable in discussing the sexuality of older women.

The 81-year-old actor said that in her 40s she had decided that before leaving the world she wants “to be a part of giving a cultural face to older women.”

“(Our) culture doesn’t like people with wrinkles to be talking about sex. Kids don’t either. They don’t like to think about their parents doing it. But the fastest growing demographics in the world are older women and a lot of them are doing it very pleasurably,” Fonda said at The Hollywood Reporter’s comedy actress roundtable.

The actor currently stars in Netflix series “Grace and Frankie” opposite Lily Tomlin, which revolves around two friends who are brought together after their husbands announce that they are in love with each other and plan to get married.

Fonda said she and Tomlin have largely received positive feedback for the show, which is currently filming its sixth season.

“I can’t tell you how much feedback Lily and I get from older women who say ‘It’s given me hope,’ and not-so-old women saying, ‘I now see another way forward,’ so I think it’s great we’re doing it and we’re having a blast,” she said.

Fonda, however, said it was not easy for her to step into the shoes of Grace Hanson.

“It took me a season to come to care for my character Grace. I had to go back into therapy and start Prozac.”

The actor revealed that the plot of of the show created a “trigger” for the her and caused her to have a “nervous breakdown during the first season.”

“It was a big trigger, and I didn’t realize that a character like that in a comedy could actually trigger something very profound, and so I love her and I learned to invite her into the room,” said Fonda.