Slow Burn x Decoder Ring | Jane Fonda’s Workout, Part 1: Jane and Leni (Encore)
Podcast: Slate Podcasts
Date: August 27, 2025
Host: Willa Paskin
Guests: Jane Fonda, Leni (Lenny) Kazdin
Episode Overview
Main Theme:
This episode dives into the untold story behind the legendary Jane Fonda Workout—a cultural phenomenon that originated in the early 1980s and became a best-selling home video, transforming both exercise culture and Jane Fonda’s image. But behind its creation lies a complex, decades-long relationship between Fonda and fitness instructor Leni Kazdin. This episode, the first of a two-parter, explores the emotional and professional dynamics that birthed the workout, focusing on issues of credit, regret, and reconciliation.
Key Discussion Points
1. Setting the Stage: Why Jane Fonda?
- Trigger: Hearing "9 to 5" makes Willa reflect on Jane Fonda’s multifaceted identity—actress, activist, and fitness guru.
“[Fonda] produced a lot of movies…they had progressive themes because Fonda was an activist, although a lot of people really don’t like her for that.” (00:44, Willa Paskin)
- Curiosity: Willa sets out to answer how these different "Janes" fit together, focusing on the origins of the Jane Fonda workout.
2. Meeting Jane & Leni: The Unexpected Interview Dynamic
- Condition: Fonda insists the interview happen with Leni Kazdin, the original creator of the workout, to give overdue credit and make amends.
“I have become famous for the workout…but the person that created the workout was not me. It was Leni Kazdin.” (04:08, Jane Fonda)
- Dynamic: Jane is eager to focus on Leni’s contributions; Leni is more reserved, repeatedly stating she’s happy and not fixated on past grievances.
3. The Subtext: A Relationship Marked by Creation and Estrangement
- History: Jane and Leni met in the late '70s, when Jane sought a new exercise routine and was blown away by Leni’s challenging, choreographed classes.
- Business Venture: They attempt to start a fitness studio together, but miscommunication and legal maneuvering by Jane's team edge Leni out of her own creation.
“Jane handed me a contract which might as well have been a job application. She wanted me to sign the contract…she said, ‘This is going on with or without you.’ And that was that. I mean, you just literally took everything from me. I didn’t have anything else to do. It destroyed me. Of the top three things and I lost a child. That’s one of them.” (37:23, Leni Kazdin)
4. Leni Kazdin’s Story: Hardships and Resilience
- Tough Childhood: Leni’s mother suffered from mental illness and alcoholism; Leni was essentially on her own from an early age.
“My mother was a paranoid schizophrenic…my mom was always surprised to see me. When I walk in, she’d go, ‘oh, hey, hey, how’s it going?’ So I was virtually on my own from almost day one.” (10:01, Leni Kazdin)
- Athletics as Escape: Roller skating became Leni's salvation, then dance, then instruction.
“Skating changed Leni’s life, saved her life. She says she was looking for structure…They gave it to her.” (11:33, Willa Paskin)
5. The Birth of Dance Fitness Culture
- Context: Early fitness culture for women was primitive and restrictive; dance-based workouts in the ’70s, like Jazzercise and Leni’s routines, revolutionized women's fitness.
“Up until the 70s, there was no workout for women…women weren’t supposed to break a sweat. Women weren’t supposed to have muscles.” (14:46, Jane Fonda)
6. Jane’s Turn to Fitness—and to Leni
- Turning Point: After breaking her foot during a film shoot, Jane seeks Leni’s exercise class to get back in shape.
“I walked into this room, there was this person in the front, Leni, this tiny little person with short brown hair with a kind of fabulous boyish body…It lasted an hour and a half. It never stopped. The next day, I couldn't move…My body had never been through anything like it. I fell in love.” (20:14, Jane Fonda)
7. The Split: Business, Betrayal, and Departure
- Omission from Profits/Recognition: At her lawyers’ advice, Jane transfers ownership to her political PAC, the CED, effectively excluding Leni.
- Leni Departs: Feeling sidelined, Leni leaves to sail around the world with her new husband. Meanwhile, the Jane Fonda workout explodes into a massive franchise.
8. The Fallout and Aftermath
- Pain and Longing for Credit: Leni is deeply hurt, feeling invisible, especially as others (like Gilda Marks) claim her achievement.
“It just felt kind of bad that I had a lot to do with it, but I couldn't tell anybody because they'd look at me like I was nuts. So I just never mentioned it. Sucked it up.” (36:14, Leni Kazdin)
- Years Later: Jane publicly credits Leni in her autobiography, but Leni never reads it; mutual friends and family facilitate some financial recognition and a resumption of tentative friendship.
9. Reconciliation—After 20+ Years
- Chance Reunion: Jane and Leni reconnect randomly at a gym nearly two decades later, begin meeting socially, and never openly discuss the past at first.
“I said, I know you thought I was dead.” (41:26, Leni Kazdin)
- Therapy Session Thwarted: An earthquake literally interrupts their planned therapy confrontation; they revert to stasis.
- Final Confrontation and Apology: Years later, Leni demands credit after hearing Jane mention the wrong person (Gilda Marks); this interview, coincidentally, becomes the vehicle for Jane’s long-overdue apology.
“Oftentimes I say, okay, if I were then where I am now, in my head, in my heart, it would have gone down differently.” (48:54, Jane Fonda) “We can let that go now.” (49:43, Leni Kazdin)
10. Epilogue: Acceptance, Irony, and Moving Forward
- No More Bitterness: Leni's hard-won peace and insistence on not being a “bitter old woman.”
“One thing you must avoid is being a bitter old woman. I think that’s not a good look.” (51:58, Leni Kazdin)
- Irony Not Lost: Leni notes the ultimate irony: Jane’s pursuit of economic democracy resulted in her own marginalization.
“It was Campaign for Economic Democracy—about that.” (50:24, Leni Kazdin)
- Reflection: Mistakes last a long time, but setting things right can last even longer.
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
"This is an important interview that we're doing, Willa, and let me explain why. I have become famous for the workout...But the person that created the workout was not me. It was Leni Kazdin."
— Jane Fonda (04:08) -
"Jane handed me a contract which might as well have been a job application...she said, ‘This is going on with or without you.’...It destroyed me. Of the top three things and I lost a child. That’s one of them."
— Leni Kazdin (37:23) -
"Oftentimes I say, okay, if I were then where I am now, in my head, in my heart, it would have gone down differently."
— Jane Fonda (48:54) -
"One thing you must avoid is being a bitter old woman. I think that’s not a good look."
— Leni Kazdin (51:58)
Timestamps for Important Segments
- 00:00–01:42: Willa introduces origin of Jane Fonda episode idea and themes
- 02:00: Jane Fonda introduces herself; immediate focus on the workout and its real origin
- 04:08: Jane admits Leni Kasdin as true creator of the workout
- 10:01: Leni describes her difficult childhood and family background
- 14:46–15:19: Context: The state of women's fitness before the 1970s
- 16:20–17:11: Rise of dance-based fitness and early female fitness instructors
- 20:14: Jane first takes Leni’s class—her transformative experience
- 33:08: Origin of Jane & Leni’s business plan; the crucial “gas station” moment
- 37:23: Leni’s emotional reflection on being edged out
- 41:26: Mid-1990s: Jane & Leni’s chance reunion at a gym
- 48:54–49:43: Jane’s direct apology and Leni’s acceptance
Tone and Style
The episode maintains a tone that is simultaneously intimate, reflective, and slightly bittersweet. Willa’s narration deftly oscillates between journalistic curiosity and empathetic listener—honoring the personal stakes and emotional weight behind what could have been a mere footnote in pop culture history. Both Jane and Leni’s voices are candid: Jane is vulnerable and self-critical; Leni blends humor, resilience, and tough-lived wisdom. Their exchanges blend reverence, regret, and acceptance.
Conclusion
Why Listen:
This episode offers far more than the behind-the-scenes tale of a famous fitness brand. It’s a moving investigation into collaboration, erasure, feminism, and the enduring impact of unresolved personal histories. Through first-person interviews, archival research, and rare moments of real-time reckoning, Decoder Ring uncovers how the Jane Fonda workout was actually the product of a partnership—and how recognizing the pain and beauty in that partnership can be as transformative as any exercise routine.
“Mistakes and misdeeds can happen in long lives. Another way to think about it is that sometimes trying to set things right can have an even longer one. Life is long and complicated and you can’t undo what happened. But maybe piecemeal, bit by bit, you can work it out.” (51:16, Willa Paskin)
Next Episode:
Part two will explore the broader cultural legacy of the Jane Fonda Workout and its ripple effect on fitness, celebrity, and activism.