Jane Fonda- Not Just A Fitness Icon

Last May here at SHIFT we hosted an event to benefit Equality Now, an organization that promotes gender equality worldwide.  The event was in partnership with Jane Fonda who has had an amazing career as an actress, fitness icon and social activist.  Our event was just one of many she continues to promote and support in a life that has been full of purpose.

At 79 years old Jane Fonda is a whirlwind of energy, starring in a new series on Netflix with Lily Tomlin called Grace and Frankie, sponsoring multiple charities in Georgia related to adolescent health and pregnancy prevention, and speaking out against social injustice in any form.  A visit to her official website shows an active blog with articles on everything from wage equality to climate change.  Jane Fonda made her Broadway debut in the 1960 play There Was a Little Girl, for which she received the first of two Tony Award nominations, and made her screen debut later the same year in Tall Story.  Throughout the 60’s and 70’s she continued to star in major films and win awards, including an Emmy Award for the 1984 TV film The Dollmaker, two BAFTA Awards for Julia and The China Syndrome and four Golden Globe Awards.

In the 1980’s through trying to find a healthy lifestyle and move away from a lifetime of eating disorders she began an exercise practice in Century City with a focus on calorie burning, high intensity cardio.  Her success in losing weight led her to partner in a fitness studio in Beverly Hills where she actually taught classes, then wrote a book titled Jane Fonda’s Workout Book which spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list.  Her next move into video was a complicated decision, inspired by a desire to reach and help women and a desire to raise funds for the Campaign for Economic Democracy (CED) led by her then husband.  The videos became iconic and established women’s fitness as an industry in media, fashion and studios across the country, in fact our SHIFT studio is a legacy of that success.

Jane Fonda’s political activism has never been a backstory, in fact she has used her Hollywood career to personally fund many of the causes she has advocated for as well as using her celebrity to bring attention to them.  Often controversial, especially in the 1960’s with her support of Civil Rights and The Black Panther’s movement and her opposition to the Vietnam War, her campaign for social justice has been passionate and unapologetic.  In recent history she has been a strong advocate for women’s rights and equality, in 2001, she established the Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia to help prevent adolescent pregnancy through training and program development.  As well as the Women’s Media Center which works toward media equality using interconnected strategies of research, original stories and articles, promotion of women experts and media training.

In addition to her campaign for women’s equality, she continues to be an anti-war activist in response to America’s involvement in the Iraq war and a passionate advocate for ongoing environmental concerns related to climate change.  Whether you agree with her politics or not, and many don’t-she has lived a life in pursuit of changing the lives of people for the better, especially for women and girls.  She also continues to be a health and fitness icon and at 75 released a new fitness video called AM/PM Yoga focused on baby boomers and staying fit as you age.