Jane Fonda mourns Ted Turner – revisit their legendary relationship

Bryan Alexander, USA TODAYWed, May 6, 2026 at 9:33 PM UTC

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The pairing of Oscar-winning actress and anti-war activist Jane Fonda and swaggering media mogul Ted Turner, known as "The Mouth of the South," made no sense on paper.

But the star couple and their decade-long marriage, from 1991 to 2001 (the third for each), is one of the most enduring and fascinating relationships of that era and a major chapter in Turner's colorful life — which ended on May 6 at his home near Tallahassee, Florida at age 87.

Fonda, 88, paid tribute to Turner with a May 6 Instagram post.

"He swept into my life, a gloriously handsome, deeply romantic, swashbuckling pirate and I’ve never been the same," Fonda wrote. "He needed me. No one had ever let me know they needed me, and this wasn’t your average human being that needed me, this was the creator of CNN, and Turner Classic Movies, who had won the America’s Cup as the world’s greatest sailor. He had a big life, a brilliant mind and a soaring sense of humor."

In their prime, the couple attended Turner-owned Atlanta Braves baseball games together, held hands on the 62nd annual Academy Awards red carpet, and brought their star power to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Fonda, who gave up her acting career at Turner's insistence, admitted her role on the world stage was often a supporting one.

Sometimes the tables were turned, such as during a 1990 Kremlin meeting with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Fonda wrote in her 2006 memoir "My Life So Far" that Gorbachev spent most of the three-hour meeting speaking directly to her.

Ted Turner Maverick media mogul and CNN founder, dies at 87

If Turner was annoyed by losing the spotlight in front of the world leader, he turned the event into an engaging story, regaling listeners with how "he had spent 28 minutes staring at Gorbachev's back."

How did Ted Turner and Jane Fonda meet?

Even their introduction was colorful enough for a Hollywood movie script. The day after Fonda's divorce from her second husband, politician Tom Hayden, was announced in 1988, her phone rang. It was Turner, whom Fonda had met only once. Fonda wrote in her memoir:

"Suddenly, a voice boomed through the phone so loudly that I had to hold the receiver away from my ear. 'Is it true?' 'Is what true?' I thought it was an odd way to start a phone conversation with a virtual stranger. 'Are you and Hayden really getting a divorce?' 'Yes.' I was still in the throes of depression and unable to speak above a whisper. 'Well then, would you like to go out with me?' I was dumbstruck."

Fonda brushed Turner off, telling him to call back in three months. Which he did. To the day. Turner gave a warm hug at the end of their first date and asked if he could call the next day. He followed through on that, inviting Fonda to his Montana ranch.

During the trip to Montana, Fonda was struck by Turner's sincerity and dizzy from his "lack of censorship."

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"'I think you’re perfect for me,'" Fonda wrote of Turner's abrupt conversation. "'We care about the same issues, we’re both overachievers, we’re both in the entertainment business, and you need someone who is as successful as you—and I’m more successful than you, which is good. Those last two movies you did were real dogs—let’s face it.'"

When the relationship was strong, the couple was often as happy behind the scenes as they appeared on camera. "There were the times when something would set us to laughing so hard we’d sink to the floor, like the night when our guffaws collapsed us at the foot of the 'Gone with the Wind' staircase at his Avalon plantation and we had to crawl up to bed on hands and knees," Fonda wrote.

Actress Jane Fonda (R) arrives with her husband Ted Turner for the 67th annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles in 1995. Fonda has won an Oscar for her film work and Turner is the head of Turner Enterprises.When did Ted Turner and Jane Fonda get married?

"We had been going steady for almost two years, when in 1991 we got married at Avalon," Fonda wrote.

However, the marriage quickly turned to heartbreak. More than a month after the Dec. 21, 1991 nuptials, after Turner had been named Time magazine's Person of the Year, Fonda discovered Turner was having an affair. Fonda wrote about confronting her husband outside of Atlanta's CNN Center:

"Ted was ashen when he got into the car, behind the wheel. That’s when I began hitting him about the head and shoulders with the car phone. Simultaneously, part of me was thinking that I’d never seen anyone do this in a movie and what a good scene it would make. (Is it only actors who think this way?) Then I poured my water bottle over his head and, crying and shaking, said, 'I sure hope it was a great f——, because you just blew it with me. I’m outta here.' Hitting someone is not my style. But it also occurred to me that I’d never cared enough before to express this kind of balls-out rage."

Ted Turner and Jane Fonda attend GCAPP "Eight Decades of Jane" in Celebration of Jane Fonda's 80th Birthday at The Whitley on Dec. 9, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Turner literally begged for forgiveness. Fonda accepted with the promise that he would never "betray me again" and would attend counseling with her.

"For seven of those years, Ted kept his promise," Fonda wrote, adding that when she looked over the marriage, she was "struck by how happy I was much of the time."

When did the marriage end?

In 2000, the couple announced their separation and the divorce was finalized in 2001. Neither Turner nor Fonda married again, and both spoke of their mutual love for each other.

“When you love somebody and you really love them, you never stop loving them, no matter how hard you try, you can’t,” Turner said in a 2012 interview with Piers Morgan.

"I loved Ted with all my heart," Fonda wrote in her Instagram May 6 tribute. "I see him in heaven now with all the wildlife he helped bring back from extinction – the black footed ferrets, the prairie dogs, Big Horned sheep, Mexican Gray Wolf, the Yellowstone wolf pack, bison, the red cockaded woodpecker and so many more, they’re all gathered at the pearly gates applauding and thanking him for saving their species."

"Rest in Peace, dearest Ted. You are loved and you will be remembered," Fonda added.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jane Fonda's emotional tribute to Ted Turner: Revisit their relationship

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