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- [00:04]
Jane Fonda
Hi, everyone.
- [00:05]
Kara Swisher
This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm Kara Swisher. We're off for the holiday today, but we have something very special for you. My Jane Fond interview on on with Kara Swisher. We talk about how to fight for democracy and the environment when both are under attack. She breaks down her PAC's electoral strategy and explains why the voices of artists matter and how to use action to beat back depression and despair. And she shares a couple of secrets for living any age.
- [00:34]
Jane Fonda
I was so depressed, and then I said it. I said, I'm going to make a difference.
- [00:53]
Kara Swisher
Hi, everyone from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. This is on with Kara Swisher. And I'm Kara Swisher. My guest today is legendary actor and activist Jane Fonda. Over the past five decades, Jane has fought for peace, civil rights, indigenous rights, women's rights, and the environment, among others. And Jane is fighting harder than ever. She recently relaunched the Committee for the First Amendment. She's been outspoken in her defense of democracy against the threat of Trumpist authoritarianism. And her political action committee, the Jane Fonda Climate PAC, has helped elect over 200 candidates across the country. I'm excited to talk to her because I'm exhausted and she's not, and therefore I can't be. One of the things about Jane Fonda is she was very right during Vietnam and she's very right now. She's always been on the cutting edge of things. And most importantly, as opposed to a lot of people from Hollywood, which you feel kind of is a mile wide and a foot deep, she really walks the talk and does do activism in a way that I think is very effective and is part of the broader culture of people in Hollywood and celebrities doing it. But she's incredibly effective. Our expert question comes from someone else. I really like Chelsea Handler, who Jane did a solid for once, and you can hear about that soon. Jane isn't just a legend, she's an inspiration. So stick around.
- [02:20]
Jane Fonda
Hi, this is Bella Freud. I'm the host of Fashion Neurosis. This week on the show, I, Esther Perel is on my couch. Erotic recovery is part of trauma healing.
- [02:32]
Kara Swisher
God, that's interesting.
- [02:34]
Jane Fonda
It's not the reward at the end. Yeah. That's the difference. And I think we both come together around that construct. Yeah. Find fashion neurosis on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. What does it really mean to be a neighbor? It's just everyday people, you know, it's just people who are retired. They Have a couple hours in the afternoon. So they're gonna do patrols. And it's people who are, you know, real estate agents, you know, driving around, like, trying to track how ice is moving and alert neighbors when things are not safe. The rise of mutual aid in times of crisis. That's this week on Explain it to Me. New episodes Sundays. Wherever you get your podc.
- [03:29]
Nora Mabey
It is over.
- [03:31]
Kara Swisher
Jane, thanks for coming on on.
- [03:33]
Jane Fonda
Thank you for having me, Kara.
- [03:35]
Kara Swisher
It's an honor, obviously, for lots of reasons, but we ran into each other in Aspen, I think, correct, in the airport. And we talked about this a long time ago.
- [03:42]
Jane Fonda
Yeah, I remember.
- [03:44]
Kara Swisher
So let's talk about what you're doing now. You've been an activist for much of your life. You got a lot of pushback for that. The National Security Agency spied on you. You spent your 82nd birthday in jail getting arrested for protesting in a climate change. Talk a little bit about what's happening now because now you've again, you've never stopped, but you've re engaged on these issues around Renee Goode and Alex Preddy and federal agents and all these arrests.
- [04:07]
Jane Fonda
Well, I'm gonna step back to the macro view of it. I think we're basically globally. We face two existential crises, climate and democracy. And they're totally interrelated, interdependent, and they have to be solved together. And the clock is ticking on the climate crisis. So after the fire drill Fridays, which were the rallies that we had for about five months in D.C. in 2019 and then for a couple of years online during the COVID crisis, when that ended, me and my team looked at each other and said, you know, all of us collectively have been involved in decades of protest and civil disobedience and writing books and articles, etce, and we haven't gotten the legislation that we need that's commensurate with what science is saying. This is during the Biden administration and we know the reason. The reason is because so many of our elected officials take money from the fossil fuel industry. And so we decided to create the Jane Fonda Climate pac. And we decided strategically to focus down ballot. This was five years ago. This is what the Tea Party did. State legislators, city councils, boards of supervisors, school boards, public utilities. These positions have tremendous power when it comes to decision making on climate. You know, whether a toxic dump has to be taken away, whether a pipeline will come through the town. So we started and we have been very successful. You know, we had no. None of us had ever done anything like this before.
- [05:52]
Kara Swisher
Right.
- [05:53]
Jane Fonda
Gone on the local level or been this invested in electoral politics, we only support candidates who don't take money from the fossil fuel industry. And it's a pretty rigorous process that we put our candidates through. And we've had a lot of success. We have. Last year, we supported 79 candidates, and 80% of them won in Virginia. Last year, we won all 22 races, including flipping nine GOP seats in Virginia. In Pennsylvania, we helped flip the coal mining region of Luzerne County Council. I'm very proud of that. And we have over 50,000 small donors and volunteers across the country, which is extraordinary. And, you know, I really, especially once Trump was reelected, it's become even more strategic in my mind. We're building a firewall. Mm. We're also creating a deep bench for the Democratic Party cause. You know, some of the people that we supported early on are now in the Senate. And of course, this year, we are gearing up to help try to take back the House. We'll continue with our down ballot focus, but we will also help take back the House.
- [07:09]
Kara Swisher
So the through line to all this is you're like a Tea Party like, but a different version of that. Correct. Rather than protests, are either of them more effective than the other, from your perspective?
- [07:19]
Jane Fonda
Well, I think we need everything you have to look at what's strategic right now. Protests are important because they force us to see, oh, we're not a minority. There's a lot of us. Somebody described protesting as flossing the movement. It's important for that reason. But when you have someone in office on the federal level who can be pressured, then protests are really important right now. They're not going to change anything except make us feel good. So, you know, they're important because what we're facing has never happened here, at least to white people. We're facing an authoritarian regime who's broken through for the first time in American history to every sector of our government. And the theory of change right now is all governments, democratic or fascistic, are held up by pillars of support. And if the pillars of support become weakened, the regime is weakened. Pillars like the military, like the financial, like art professionals, et cetera and so forth.
- [08:30]
Kara Swisher
So let's talk about that threat, because you said in an interview last fall that it takes, quote, 18 to 22 months for an authoritarian to consolidate power. Once that happens, it's very hard to defend democracy. On my other podcast, Scott and I are publicizing resist and unsubscribe movement. He's organized, as you call it, non compliance. Do you Think Americans are showing the required levels of urgency to meet the moment it's starting.
- [08:53]
Jane Fonda
But you know what is not visible? It's like the rezone underground is organizing, is happening all across the country in all the pillars. And that should give us great hope. Also, there's been a major overstepping of red lines and people are really starting to wake up to what's happening. Which leads me to the second. I said two crises, climate. And then there's the democracy crisis that we're talking about. This coming to power of an authoritarian regime. They have to be solved together, these two crises. You can't have a stable democracy without a stable climate. And you can't have a stable climate unless you have a democracy. I mean, what we're seeing now is worse and worse things happening vis a vis the climate. So when I won the lifetime achievement award at Screen Actors Guild, I did some research to find out what kind of resistance has been in existence in the entertainment industry. And I was reminded that in the late 40s and early 50s, the House UN American Activities Committee, when it was, and then later McCarthy were destroying lives and careers in Hollywood, blaming people for accusing people of being friendly to communists or. Anyway, Hollywood created the Committee for the First Amendment. My dad was a part of it. And so in October, I thought now's the time to recreate this. Because, you know, if you look at the history of authoritarianism, they always first go for art. They go after art and education because those are the sectors that affect how people feel, how they think. We're the storytellers. We can control the narrative to a large extent. So we come under attack right away. So we created this. We now have over 3,000 members and we're being trained in how do you confront authoritarianism? Because it's different. As you said, it's not just protest, it's non compliance. And what does that mean? It means what happened when Kimmel was threatened with being booted off his show and millions of Americans threatened to cancel their subscription to Disney.
- [11:09]
Kara Swisher
Whoa.
- [11:09]
Jane Fonda
When it affects pocketbooks, suddenly everything change. That is an example of non compliance. The reporters who had posts at the Pentagon and were told they couldn't report on things they were saying a mass, they turned in their badge, including Fox. Non compliance strikes, boycotts, boycotts, all those things are examples of non compliance. And ideally, they're things that can affect the economy of the country.
- [11:41]
Kara Swisher
There was a lot of opposition to ICE at the Grammys, for example. You also seen Celebrities Pull Back, for example, Jennifer Lawrence said she'd reconsider her previously outspoken approach to politics and said, quote, celebrities do not make a difference whatsoever on who people vote for. And then you look at Bad Bunny at the super bowl, which I thought was very effective. He was doing all kinds of messaging that was very subtle but very clear.
- [12:02]
Jane Fonda
So beautiful.
- [12:03]
Kara Swisher
Beautiful, right? It's also joyful. It's fun.
- [12:05]
Jane Fonda
Yeah. I never cried at a halftime before, really, but it was the joy. The joy and the love.
- [12:12]
Kara Swisher
But there were tons of political messages in there, all over the place. So talk about, you know, this idea of, I guess it's celebrity activism, that's kind of discounting it. Talk about where it is now.
- [12:23]
Jane Fonda
I think the fact that we're attacked, I mean, it's proof that it matters. You know, if they didn't attack us the way they did, then I would think, well, maybe it really doesn't matter. We're called coastal elite. You know, why are you speaking out? What do you know about this? But the fact is, artists model courage. Courage is contagious. Also comics in particular, ridicule and humor are the best ways of confronting authoritarianism. They don't know what to do about it. The goal of the authoritarians is always to show we're impermeable, impenetrable. We are inevitable. There's nothing you can do about it. And then a kid comes along, a comic, and says, look at you with no clothes. Makes fun of the authoritarianism. It exposes their weakness. It's the last thing that authoritarians want. When we first formed October 1st and launched, and there was a lot of publicity.
- [13:31]
Kara Swisher
This is the Committee for the First Amendment.
- [13:33]
Jane Fonda
The Committee for the First Amendment. I was stunned at the response that we got from movement leaders all around the country, from Europe, from all the major foundations. Wow. You know, if we don't matter, why is everybody so excited that this has happened?
- [13:51]
Kara Swisher
Right?
- [13:52]
Jane Fonda
And little by little, I began to understand it's because they're trying to organize other pillars. And if celebrities and people in the arts pillar start to stand up and show courage, it's much easier for people in the banking pillar or in the, you know, the professional pillar to say, well, God, if he can do that, if she can do that, I can stand up and be brave. So it's, it's really, really important.
- [14:18]
Kara Swisher
Now you call it the Committee for the First Amendment. It was originally founded during the Red scare, as you mentioned. Your father, Henry Fonda, was a member. Talk a little bit, because free speech, this idea of the first amendment has been co opted by the right. It's been co opted by the tech overlords, even if only superficially. You could also make the case less had abandoned it a little bit. Talk about what it means to you and why you thought it was important to revive this at this moment in time.
- [14:43]
Jane Fonda
Well, it's the cornerstone of democracy. It's also the cornerstone of art. I mean, you can't have art if you don't have free expression. But the First Amendment isn't just free speech. It's the five freedoms. It's freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and freedom to protest. And that means for anybody, you know, we have to recognize that. But a far right winger has all those same rights. And if you really believe in the First Amendment, you have to support her or his right, even if you don't agree with it. That's the strength of it. This is a nonpartisan issue. As I said on the Colbert show, this is not a question of left or right. It's a question of right or wrong.
- [15:29]
Kara Swisher
We'll be back in a minute.
- [15:44]
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- [16:10]
Nora Mabey
Last month, Nora Mabey, a reporter in Montana, was looking around on Facebook for story ideas.
- [16:16]
Local Sheriff
In Montana, particularly in rural areas, Facebook is where a lot of news is shared.
- [16:21]
Nora Mabey
And a post from the local sheriff caught her eye. He said that border patrol agents had rocked up outside of business in the very small town of Freud, Montana, to take someone in and that he, the sheriff was trying to assist them. But then at the end of his post, he added this.
- [16:37]
Local Sheriff
It's important to note that this man was not a threat, not a danger to his community, has no criminal history and has been a great member of this community, which I just haven't seen a statement like that from law enforcement, particularly in a really, you know, conservative area that typically has a lot of support for all types of law enforcement, Border Patrol included.
- [16:58]
Nora Mabey
Coming up on Today explained the story of Freud, Montana, a town where most people voted for President Trump and how residents reacted when reality hit home. Today explained drops every weekday.
- [17:13]
Megan Rapinoe
Megan Rapinoe here. This week on A Touch More, the one and only Flaje Johnson joins us to talk about leveling up for the wnba, managing nil money and how she's nurturing her music career. We're also taking a closer look at why participation in girls sports is declining. Surprising, we know. And we're giving some love to Valentine's Day and what it's like dating a pro athlete and who's the best athlete couple of all time. Check out the latest episode of A Touch More wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube.
- [17:51]
Kara Swisher
In the 1970s, during the Middle of the Vietnam War, you traveled to 80 cities in three months. You did an anti war slideshow about women in Vietnam. Talk about that time. And what did you learn that's relevant for today when everyone is living in algorithmically controlled media bubbles? As you know, the big problem now.
- [18:09]
Jane Fonda
Is that the right has taken over all the media. They have their own media, and they've been very, very smart in taking over the new media. And so we have to become ubiquitous to the extent that we can. Back in the 70s and 80s, the 60s and 70s, that wasn't the case. And because we didn't have phones, we didn't have this. We had to talk to people. And that was the big difference. And that was both good and bad. It takes longer, it's harder, but when you get through, it's more meaningful. You've really made contact and you've changed people. And so what we did starting in 1972, traveling to 80 cities in three months, two years in a row, we changed people. We went into the middle of the country and we talked to people where they were. We started at the Ohio State Fair, and that was a huge learning.
- [19:18]
Kara Swisher
Well, tell me what you learned there.
- [19:20]
Jane Fonda
That it's important to talk to people, to not be partisan, to listen hard and then present all the facts. And it was very simple. That's what we did. We weren't people, you know, McGovern was campaigning. There were campaigns going on. We didn't take part in that. We just talked about what was really happening on the ground in Vietnam, which was contrary to what Nixon was saying. And it had an effect on people.
- [19:47]
Kara Swisher
So how do you do that today? How do you apply that today when you're doing this?
- [19:51]
Jane Fonda
Organizers are on the ground in a way that the Democratic Party hasn't been. I think a lot of what's happening today is because the Democratic Party got in bed with its donors and stopped talking to people, especially in the middle of the country. People used to see the party come in and put money into a community here, $10,000, organize your community, that kind of thing. Isn't happening anymore. And you can'. You can't organize with this. You can rally, but you can't organize. And we have to get back to the organizing. You know, Mamdani's big success was cause he talked to people, he listened, it was local. And I think that that needs to happen again.
- [20:38]
Kara Swisher
You said that the Democratic Party leaders not good enough and they aren't doing what they need to do to stand up to authoritarianism. They are not in power right now too at the same time. But are there any Democrats like Mamdani bucking the trend and impress. Do you see it around the country as you go around on down ballot.
- [20:55]
Jane Fonda
Levels and in Congress, Some of the people that we've gotten, I mean Greg.
- [20:59]
Kara Swisher
Casar, for example in Texas, I've interviewed him. He's very impressive.
- [21:03]
Jane Fonda
Yeah. And he was like the very first year that we formed the pac, he was one of our candidates. There are people like him. Now everybody's saying, oh, you're going to vote for president, it's too soon. We don't know what's going to happen between now and 28. And also the President is already telling us that he's prepared to mess with the midterms. And we can see signs of that. Trying to do away with mail in ballot all kinds of ways in which they're trying to get in the way of a really fair election in the midterms. And what this means is that registering voters and inspiring people to vote is an organizing tool. We have to put all of our energy now into inspiring people to vote. Not even so much to do with who the candidate is. This is a tool that we still have. And if we don't use it now, it's not gonna be there later. I mean, this is a real case of use it or lose it.
- [22:02]
Kara Swisher
Right? Right. Absolutely.
- [22:04]
Jane Fonda
Yeah. So exercise democracy.
- [22:06]
Kara Swisher
So one of the things you talk about is the ability for, you know, you're a well known person and one of the things you've also been doing. You just talked about mainstream media being taken over also.
- [22:16]
Jane Fonda
And the new media too.
- [22:17]
Kara Swisher
And the new media now you've been speaking out against Netflix proposed purchase of Warner Bros. Disc. You haven't minced your words in opposition. I'm going to read part of the statement you put out. Today's news that Warner Brothers Discovery has accepted a purchase bid is an alarming escalation of the consolidation that threatens the entire entertainment industry. The Democratic public it serves in the First Amendment. Make no mistake, this is not just a catastrophic business deal that could destroy our creative industry. It's a constitutional crisis exacerbated by the administration's demonstrated disregard for the law. On the other hand, the other bidder is Larry Ellison and the Paramount folks who have their own agendas, let's just say so talk about what you would like to see happen. Because if you're talking about the arts as a cultural important pillar of these changes and in speaking out, what happens in these kind of consolidations, the Committee.
- [23:08]
Jane Fonda
For the First Amendment isn't taking sides in terms of which party that's trying to merge is better than the other. We're opposed to mergers because a, a lot of people lose jobs. We have less bargaining power. We have fewer studios to go to to negotiate. And because Trump has taken over, I can't remember what it's called merger control. He has say so now over who gets to merge. He is imposing limits on the First Amendment. He's saying, you have to do this. You can't hire this. You can't say these things in our major cultural and media institutions. We have to stop that.
- [23:52]
Kara Swisher
So whichever merger you think, because the traditional business model is under strain. Ticket sales are down more than 20% since 2019. We're recording this on Monday just after SAG AFTRA is about to again enter negotiations with the studios. There'll be issues over AI compensation, creative control, given the damage caused by the last strike and diminishing demand for the product. Talk about the moment that Hollywood is in then, if they're going to be someone that's gonna defend the First Amendment. The business is under enormous strain.
- [24:23]
Jane Fonda
There've been a lot of mergers that were, including just towards the end of my marriage to Ted Turner. There was so much pressure on him to merge with AOL and Time Warner. And then all those other mergers that happened after that. You know, it's interesting because I said to Ted, why, you know, you have such a, a successful business? He said, because I'm paraphrasing. He said, if I don't become part of a bigger institution, I'm going to get eaten. This is capitalism. You have to keep getting bigger. And it turned out very badly for Zazlov and for Warner Brothers. So I am not.
- [25:08]
Kara Swisher
It was Jerry Levin for that one. I wrote a whole book on it. That was Jerry Levitt. Yeah.
- [25:14]
Jane Fonda
There were a lot of people saying to do, you know, John Malone? And a lot of really smart people. Mike Milken were telling him to do this. And Ted didn't. He didn't feel good about it.
- [25:25]
Kara Swisher
It was the wrong deal. You had the correct instincts on that one.
- [25:28]
Jane Fonda
Yeah, Ted had the correct instincts.
- [25:31]
Kara Swisher
Yeah. Yeah. So when you look at today, what do you say to them? Given they've got pressure from tech, they've got pressure from the audiences who are, who are rushing towards technology faster than they're. And running away from Hollywood and AI obviously plays an enormous part.
- [25:48]
Jane Fonda
I can't pretend to have answers to that. I don't know. I've asked a lot of people in the entertainment business, people in the entertainment industry. If Warner Brothers studio, can't it really stand on its own? And they all say, yeah, it can. And so then why not just leave that there remaining as it is, this great historic movie factory? And maybe the smaller things go to other entities, I don't know. But the major mergers that absorb all these studios, I mean, there were so many more studios when I started out. It's bad for us, right? And the industry is hurting enough to then restrict even more is gonna really. It's so hard right now to have a middle class life if you're. Unless you're a, you know, above the line, a list actor. It's sad and I don't know what the future is. I don't think the mergers are the solution, though.
- [26:50]
Kara Swisher
No, I think they just like to merge. So you've been a mentor to women in Hollywood for decades too. And every episode we get an expert to send us a question. So same for you. We've got an expert who's been on the receiving end of your kindness. Comedian Chelsea Handler. Let's list Jane Fonda took me, like.
- [27:05]
Chelsea Handler
To school one day, invited me to her house and basically told me that my behavior had been terrible at one of her parties at her house. Like, she was. She like, took me to town and in the most gentle, loving way. And I wrote a chapter in my book about it. And it's the story of her doing that and how that changed my life forever. Because she was like, your behavior was awful. And like, the fact that she took the time to say that to me was huge. You know, most people would be like, just, I'm not going to talk to that, that person again. Because nobody has those difficult conversations. You know what I mean? People are so avoidant, especially in Hollywood. And it was really like, it made me realize the type of woman that I wanted to be.
- [27:42]
Kara Swisher
Why did you go out of your way to help Chelsea talk about that? Like, you've done that quite a bit. Why are you doing this now? Like, everyone's like, jane Fonda doesn't have to do any More work. She. She did a lot. So it's much easier to walk away.
- [27:53]
Jane Fonda
Just that. That philosophy. I don't. I don't relate to it at all. Like, there's some point in life where you stop getting better or stop trying to get better or stop mattering.
- [28:06]
Kara Swisher
No.
- [28:08]
Jane Fonda
I love Chelsea Handler. She is an extraordinary human being. Not many people are able to say, ooh, I don't like that about myself. I'm going to change, and then actually do it. She has changed.
- [28:25]
Kara Swisher
She has.
- [28:26]
Jane Fonda
And she's the only other person besides me that I know that has done that, because I've done that, and it can be done. And I just respect her tremendously for that. I don't do that with everybody. Just a few people.
- [28:41]
Kara Swisher
Just a few people. But what is the impetus for you in doing that? When people are looking, I often point to you when they were like, oh, I don't know if I can do anything. I'm like, look at Jane fucking Fondant. Like, look over there. Because she just.
- [28:54]
Jane Fonda
Everybody always has fucking Fonda.
- [28:56]
Kara Swisher
I don't know why it just goes together with you. Sorry, apologies. Excuse me.
- [29:00]
Jane Fonda
No problem. It's common, though. Anyway. So what is the question?
- [29:04]
Kara Swisher
It's a compliment, I believe. Thank you. When you have that impetus, when people do feel hopeless, what is your. Do you ever feel that way? And what do you tell people when they feel like they don't have a say? Because being small is a good way to stop people. Making them feel small is a good way to stop people from activism or their best instincts.
- [29:25]
Jane Fonda
For example, I am part of a long line of very depressed people. And for a good part of my life, I was a glass half empty kind of gal. Okay? So it doesn't come naturally to me, but I remember there was a time when it was about 112 degrees in Los Angeles and there were wildfires. And I stepped out and I looked at the sky. It was brown, orange, apocalyptic. I read that birds were falling dead out of the sky. I'm a birder. I was so depressed, I got a bird feeder. I got a bird bath and went to bed, and it was hard to move. And then I said, fuck it. I said, I'm gonna make a difference. And I knew I wasn't doing enough. And so I called a woman who at the time was the director of Greenpeace usa, Annie Leonard. I said, I want to come and make a difference. I want to come to D.C. and make a difference. I want to raise a ruckus. What can I do? Do? And together with her we created Fire Drill Fridays. And the minute I did that, my depression lifted. Then I heard Greta Thunberg say, you know, everybody goes looking for hope. Look for action, and hope will come. Hope is very different than optimism. You know, optimism is everything's going to be fine and you don't do anything about it. Hope is a muscle. Hope is when you fight, hope can be rage filled. Breaking down the door with a battering ram. Bachelor Havel was in prison in 1984. 85. By the Communists in Czechoslovakia. He was the famous playwright.
- [31:05]
Kara Swisher
Yes, of course.
- [31:05]
Jane Fonda
Yeah. Czech playwright.
- [31:06]
Kara Swisher
Amazing playwright, too.
- [31:07]
Jane Fonda
Yeah. And I'm paraphrasing, but in prison, he said, you know, hope is not about fighting for something because you think it's gonna succeed. Hope is about fighting because it's right. And then was president of the country. We never know what the future holds, but it's within that unknowing that hope can grow.
- [31:32]
Kara Swisher
I've been in that in California during one of those periods. What got you moving? Cause I wanna talk about this foundational work as an activist right now, the environmentalism. But what got you moving to that?
- [31:44]
Jane Fonda
That. Well, because I know I have a platform and I knew that I wasn't using it fully enough. And I just made the decision that I was gonna do it no matter what. I was gonna step up. I'd been an activist for decades, but I knew that it wasn't enough right now.
- [32:03]
Kara Swisher
Right.
- [32:04]
Jane Fonda
And so I'm gonna do it. And I just made the decision. And the minute I did that, I became hopeful. And I've remained hopeful ever since. Even now I am.
- [32:15]
Kara Swisher
We'll be back in a minute. When you want your spring break to feel like. And your kids pool day to feel like. And your hotel bed to feel like. Ooh. And room service to feel like.
- [32:46]
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- [32:49]
Jane Fonda
Your cabana's ready. Would you like fresh towels?
- [32:51]
Kara Swisher
It matters where you stay. Book now@hilton.com Hilton for this day. Hi, everyone. This week on on with Karis Fisher. I'm joined by the iconic actor and activist Jane Fonda. You've heard of her. Jane and I talked about her roots as an activist D going back to the 1970s when she was protesting the Vietnam War, to her ongoing fight for climate, free speech and ultimately our democracy. Here's a taste of what she had to say.
- [33:22]
Jane Fonda
Hope is very different than optimism. You know, optimism is everything's going to be fine and you don't do anything about it. Hope is a muscle. Hope is when you fight, hope can be rage filled. Breaking down the door with a battering ram.
- [33:41]
Kara Swisher
This is a wonderful conversation. I am privileged to be able to talk to people like this. Jane Fonda is the bomb. She just is. She's always been that way. She remains that way. She will go down in history as that. You can listen to wherever you get your podcasts and search for us too on YouTube and be sure to follow on with Kara Swisher. For more.
- [34:01]
Victoria Garrick Brown
This week on Net Worth and Chill, we're joined by Victoria Garrick Brown, former Division 1 athlete turned body positivity advocate and entrepreneur who's dismantling the lies we've been sold about our worth. From battling eating disorders as a student athlete to building a platform that's reached millions. Victoria's journey as a masterclass in turning personal pain into purpose and profit. She opens up about the real financial cost of chasing beauty standards, why the skinny girl industrial complex is designed to keep us broke and insecure, and how she's built a business around authentic self worth without selling out her values. We dive deep into the economics of body image, the influencer money game, and what it actually costs to love yourself in a world that profits from your insecurities. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube.com YourRichBFF so the Jane.
- [34:47]
Kara Swisher
Fought a climate PAC. It's helped elect over 200 candidates. And just for people who don't know, the stated goal is to unseat politicians in the pocket of big oil and replace them with climate champions. And you talked about your down ballot strategy and the deep bench. Can I have more details about those plans for the midterms? What is the strategy from your perspective that you can talk about about?
- [35:05]
Jane Fonda
We want to elect as many people as we can to the House. So my team is small, but they have a great deal of expertise and they're looking at which are the winnable seats all around the country. And then in some instances we just give money. In some instances I go there. That's always interesting because we triple the amount of money they can raise. We quadruple the amount of volunteers they can get. We also train and we help in many ways besides just giving money.
- [35:39]
Kara Swisher
So when you think about that, when you give these young activists, climate activists advice, do you try to focus their pressure? Cause there's the courts, the elections, the tech companies for right now are building these data centers. How do you resist that? Given here you are trying to stop one climate thing with cars and then it moves to AI data centers and then it moves, et cetera, right at.
- [36:02]
Jane Fonda
Our Last PAC board meeting, we had a presentation from experts on data centers. They can be less destructive, they can be run on alternative energy, which of course, the Trump administration is opposing. But we decided as a board to. Now we not only won't support anybody that's in favor of expanding fossil fuels, but we don't support people that are. Are in favor of Data Centers or SMRs, small modular reactors. I've done quite a bit of research into these.
- [36:39]
Kara Swisher
Oh, good for you to know about that.
- [36:42]
Jane Fonda
They're being touted as this is the solution to climate. They take just as long to build, which means that we go beyond the red line for climate. 10 years, 20 years is too late. That's how long it takes for them to get online, even the small ones. Another really bad thing is the radioactive waste from SMRs is different chemically than from a traditional reactor. It's exotic chemicals. They can't be mixed together. So now we're talking about. We haven't even solved the problem of the traditional waste. Now we have a whole new set of radioactive waste that we have to try to figure out. Also the use of water and the amount of money it costs, which taxpayers. I didn't realize it. Taxpayers end up paying the bulk of the costs of nuclear reactors, even if they never go online.
- [37:35]
Kara Swisher
Yeah. And they're also paying a lot of the data center costs and things like that, which is interesting when you think about.
- [37:42]
Jane Fonda
So it's SMRs, it's data centers and it's fossil fuels. These things are critical.
- [37:50]
Kara Swisher
Yeah. Does it feel like you're still in the China Syndrome? That was a million. When was that? That was like so long ago when.
- [37:58]
Jane Fonda
That was early 80s maybe.
- [37:59]
Kara Swisher
Yeah. I interviewed Oliver Stone and he said Jane Fond has done more damage to nuclear energy than anyone.
- [38:06]
Jane Fonda
El.
- [38:08]
Kara Swisher
I said, well, I guess we can't put it at her feet, but fine, whatever. Because as you know, he's for nuclear energy. As you know. What do you make of some leaders? Like Elon Musk used to be a climate change supporter.
- [38:21]
Jane Fonda
Right.
- [38:23]
Kara Swisher
Meaning deal with it. He's now gone the other direction in a direction none of us quite understand. And at the same time, he's talking about leaving Earth, going to Mars today or yesterday. He said he's building a moon city so he can get to Mars. Now he's sort of the personification of villain tech, essentially wanting to get off the planet. How do you look at people like that where that's their solution? It's like we're not going to deal with climate change. Instead we're just going to leave for Mars, which is not a very nice place to live, by the way. Neither is the moon.
- [38:51]
Jane Fonda
Well, I mean, I think all of them change because of money. I think it's based on greed. I can't think of any other reason why he's made such a switch. Maybe he was always that way, but he covered it up because he was getting so popular and, you know, because he had a little sense of humor and he had all the electric cars and everything. I don't know.
- [39:14]
Kara Swisher
What would you say to someone like him or some of these tech overlords?
- [39:17]
Jane Fonda
I would try to reason with them. I would try to explain that we have to have soil and diversity and wildlife and trees and plants and air and water so that human beings can continue to live here. Because you're never going to remove everybody from here to some other planet. How dare we consider ourselves so much more important than the other sentient things that are on this planet that we could just dismiss them and assume that a few of us will get up there somehow? You know, Is this how you want to be remembered? Even that is a stupid thing to say because who's going to remember at that point?
- [39:57]
Kara Swisher
Yeah, that's true. That's a good point.
- [39:59]
Jane Fonda
Right.
- [39:59]
Kara Swisher
Because it's all over unless they bring the books that they're interested in. So when people are thinking about these issue, I have two more questions. How do you keep them? You seem like a very. I know you said you had some depression, everything else, but how do you keep people hopeful? Cause people feel. I do feel there's energy returned within some of the movements. You can feel it after Minnesota, or even Don Lemon of all people really went out there and did stuff right. Like someone who was an anchor at a traditional cnn. What advice do you give to people to keep going? Because people do have a hopelessness to them. And yet you see these, as you said, these seed of hope.
- [40:39]
Jane Fonda
People are ready. People are saying, tell me what to do. And right now what to do is get trained. It's called freedom Trainers. They do non cooperation 101. I've had them done both on the east and west coast for members of the Committee for the First Amendment. Get ready, understand authoritarianism and how it can be defeated and learn how to be safe. Develop a community that can help each other. One of the reasons that the resistance in Minneapolis has been so robust is because they were organized. They were trained to know what to do. Who's going to be in charge of medical, who's going to be in charge of Food. They knew how to de escalate. We all have to become like Minneapolis and it can be done again. Freedom Trainers is one example of a. They're training people, hundreds of thousands of people all across the country.
- [41:34]
Kara Swisher
You know, one of the things. I'm wrapping up a documentary series for CNN about longevity and it was inspired by all these tech billionaires that want to stay live forever, which I think is enormously narcissistic. But there are all these. Well, I'm sure you agree, right?
- [41:49]
Jane Fonda
Yes, I do.
- [41:51]
Kara Swisher
And at the same time, my feeling is that mortality gives us creativity, it gives us impetus to do things right.
- [41:57]
Jane Fonda
It makes sense of life.
- [41:59]
Kara Swisher
That's correct. That is correct.
- [42:01]
Jane Fonda
And unless you embrace and understand and kind of are okay with death, life has no meaning.
- [42:08]
Kara Swisher
That's right. Right. And there's actually studies showing if you ignore it, death, you become hateful. And if you accept it, you become community based, which is really interesting. There's all these scientific studies showing it.
- [42:19]
Jane Fonda
When I was 60, I did the smartest thing in my whole life. I realized, okay, I'm not scared of dying. I'm scared of getting to the end with a lot of regrets when it's too late to do anything about it. So that means, because I was confused, how am I supposed to live my last act? How I'm supposed to live my last act is so I'll be okay when the end comes. Obviously none of us know when the end is gonna be, but you have to make a vision of how you want. I wanna die at home in my bed. I wanna be surrounded by loved ones. That means between now and then, I gotta be sure people love me. I have to be sure I deserve love.
- [42:58]
Kara Swisher
Yeah. Yeah.
- [42:59]
Jane Fonda
I'd like to be able to have a few wise things to, you know, figure out how you wanna be at the end. Even if you, you know, you don't have any control over it. And then that informs how you're gonna live between now and then. And it's made all the difference in my life. I've gone into therapy at 82 years old. Never too late to figure it out.
- [43:21]
Kara Swisher
Did you find anything really good out?
- [43:23]
Jane Fonda
Yeah, but it takes too long on this.
- [43:25]
Kara Swisher
I'm teasing you. I'm teasing you. But when you think about that, that idea of living your best life, right. And you show no signs of slow. Do you have a. I know it sounds crazy, but a secret. I'm not talking about your skin regimen, which your skin is excellent, by the way. But when you think about what the kind of things you can put into it now, when you were doing your career, when you were 30s, you took a great risk and turned out to be right. But at the time, you got attacked relentlessly. Right. What you're doing now, you're certainly getting more celebrated for. Obviously your activism is more celebrated. But I think one of the things, the reasons I wanted to talk to you is because I want people to feel they don't have to be Jane Fonda to do this right. You don't have to be you, essentially. So do you have a secret or anything else or not just getting up or.
- [44:18]
Jane Fonda
I meditate and I meditate to keep myself hopeful, to keep myself grounded and to keep myself present. Also, sometimes when I'm meditating, problems arise and get solved. So interesting. And I've started on substack recently and I just began. And people loved. I took them on a meditation with me and the reaction was so positive. But I'm going to do it every time. So that's one thing. Another thing is sleep. Getting enough sleep so that I have energy because I get very depressed if I don't get enough sleep, then maybe as important or more, don't be alone. You're vulnerable when you're alone. You're vulnerable to depression. You're vulnerable also vulnerable to danger, to ice, to all kinds of things, to being not impactful. You know, all of us, those of us who are alive right now are blessed because we have the chance to turn everything around. I feel so lucky to be born right now. And in order to do it right, I got to do it with other people. People and make sure that what we're doing is the right thing to do, that it's not just frivolous or it doesn't really make any difference. And what got me to be smart was pulling on smart people to help me, to guide me. And I now have a team around me that is very experienced and totally strategic and very connected to the entire ecosystem of movement across the country. So. So, okay, so not everybody can do that necessarily, but you can join a local indivisible, you can organize your neighborhood, these local pods of people who will help each other when not only the authoritarianism shit hits the fan, but when the climate shit. We have to harden our communities and make them resilient in all kinds of ways, including security. And you can't do that alone. Get to know your neighbors, know their phone numbers and emails, talk about who's going to do what if this happens or that happens. And being in the training helps you think in those Kind of ways, right?
- [46:36]
Kara Swisher
Absolutely.
- [46:36]
Jane Fonda
Know things like if you risk going into an area where there's tear gas, take out your contacts, you know, Good to know. Whistle. Good to know.
- [46:45]
Kara Swisher
Thank you for that piece of advice, Jane Fonda. So one of the things you were when you did your original activism during Vietnam, obviously Nixon was your foe, right? In the larger scheme of things.
- [46:58]
Jane Fonda
Yeah.
- [46:58]
Kara Swisher
Today it's Trump. What would you say to him right now? Do you think you can change his mind?
- [47:05]
Jane Fonda
Here's what I. I couldn't. I tried. I wanted to. I know him. I've met him. He used to really like and admire Ted, my ex husband, Ted Turner. And I feel because I spent a decade with Ted Turner, I understand Trump a little bit because they have certain things in common. Early trauma at the hands of the Father, Father, etc. And in my mind, sometimes when I lie in bed, I have conversations with him and I want to say to him, you know, I feel like I understand something about. Because I lived with ted Turner for 10 years, you have things in common. Do you understand what's happening? You know, I would try to touch his heart. There was one when he first got elected in 2017, I wanted to go and meet with him with a bunch of really brilliant, sexy women and kneel at his feet because I thought, well, this would work with Ted and tell him he could be a global hero if he saved the planet. And Pamela Anderson was willing to go with me and then Ivanka and Jared, it didn't happen. There was no help getting there. It's important to understand what he does and what he says. The behavior is the language of the traumatized, and you have to see through it. You can hate what the behavior, but you have to see through it to the traumatized person and not hate them. Them. Because if you hate them, then it's your. It brings you down. I don't hate him. I don't. Troy Bayard got really mad at me on the View when I said that. But I feel better. I view all these guys and Musk and the others, they're just, they're not. Well, it's the not wellness that we see acted as out. I'm so sorry that this happened to them in their lives. And I would try to touch that early Trump, but I don't. I don't think I'd succeed.
- [49:25]
Kara Swisher
Yeah, if you could get to it. I don't think you can at some point. There is one point. I said one time to one of these tech moguls, I'm so sorry your parents didn't hug you enough as a child, but you need to stop. And they looked at me and I go, I got Gotcha.
- [49:39]
Jane Fonda
But you need to stop.
- [49:42]
Kara Swisher
They're dead.
- [49:43]
Jane Fonda
Yeah.
- [49:43]
Kara Swisher
Like, you need to move on.
- [49:44]
Jane Fonda
There's a statute of limitation.
- [49:46]
Kara Swisher
Yes. Get some help.
- [49:47]
Jane Fonda
And now move. See, this is what happened with Ted Turner. There was a point in his life where he intentionally moved towards the light, moved to the side of the angel. He decided, and he changed himself. God bless him.
- [50:04]
Kara Swisher
God bless. Anyway, Jane Fonda, thank you so much.
- [50:07]
Jane Fonda
Thank you very much.
- [50:13]
Kara Swisher
Today's show was produced by Christian Castor Russell, Michelle Eloy, Megan Burney and Kalyn Lynch. Nishat Kirwa is Vox Media's executive producer of podcasts. Special thanks to Annika Robbins. Our engineers are Fernando Arruda and Rick Kwan, and our theme music is by Trackademics. If you already following the show, you deserve love. If not, go meditate on why you haven't subscribed. Go over your listen to podcasts, search for on with Kara Swisher, and hit follow. Thanks for listening to on with Kara Swisher from Podium Media, New York magazine, the Vox Media podcast network, and us. We'll be back on Monday with more.