Becoming Jane Fonda: The Private Life Of A Public Woman

Bosworth goes behind the image of an American superwoman, revealing Fonda—more powerful and vulnerable than ever expected—whose struggles for high achievement, love, and successful motherhood mirror the conflicts of a generation of women.

As actress, activist, businesswoman, wife, and mother, Jane Fonda has pushed herself to the limit, attempting to please all, excel in every arena, be everything. We’ve read her version of her controversial life, yet nothing can prepare us for this genuinely revelatory account of Jane’s engrossing, sometimes shocking journey.

Supplemented by the psychiatric records of her suicidal, bipolar mother, Fonda’s FBI file, and interviews with her intimates, this perceptive portrait strips away hype and the subject’s own mythmaking. Patricia Bosworth shows us what a toll Jane’s quest to excel (and please her demanding father, Henry) exacted and sheds light on truths she’s glossed over: her rejection of her mother before her suicide; the death threats and self-doubts of her antiwar crusade; her second husband Tom Hayden’s habit of putting her down while spending her fortune; the emotional downfall that led her to stop acting and marry Ted Turner.

Lee Strasberg once said that Jane had "panic in her eyes," and it is this wounded but so familiar woman—human yet still heroic, the embodiment of a generation’s conflicts and triumphs—whom Bosworth captures so utterly and definitively.

Editorial Reviews

Respected biographer Patricia Bosworth (Montgomery Clift; Diane Arbus) has been observing Jane Fonda as a friend since the sixties. In this ten-year project, perhaps her greatest work, Bosworth presents the actress/activist/business mogul even more intimately than as she was portrayed in the star's 2005 autobiography. To etch this intricate portrait of the restless polymath, the author draws on psychiatric records of her suicidal, bipolar mother, Fonda's FBI interviews, and scores of interviews with friends and associates. This biography lends new clarity to the intense relationship between Jane and her demanding father, Hollywood icon Henry Fonda. Certain to receive major attention.

About The Author:

About The Author:

PATRICIA BOSWORTH, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair , has known Jane Fonda since they were students at the Actors Studio and has been writing about her since 1968. Bosworth has also written acclaimed biographies of Montgomery Clift, Diane Arbus, and Marlon Brando. She lives in New York.