Jane Fonda On Feminism, Finding Motivation And Why She Does Her Iconic Aerobics Workout Every Day

Political activist, actor, fitness guru and all-round icon Jane Fonda has just turned 85, and is just as fabulous and fierce as ever (she's still doing her best-selling workout video every day, we'll have you know). An ambassador for the new H&M Move campaign, a collection empowering everyone to get moving this year, Jane Fonda speaks exclusively with ELLE UK about exercising in her 80s, keeping motivated, the women who changed her life and the importance of solidarity...

Jane Fonda on staying healthy

'Wanting to be bone thin is not good. It's not good for your health, and it's not good for your mind to be that deprived. Someone who's in bed with you might not like it either, because you can get hurt on those hipbones!'

On the 'Workout'

'It's still relevant today because it really works. I'm 85 now and I can't do the full workout per se, but I do the same moves only slower and with less weight, every day. If I were to go back 40 years to when I started the workout and see me now I'd probably say "oh, what a wuss! What the hell is she doing?!" But the fact is that I have stayed in shape, even though I'm 85, by what I do, even if it is slower. I used to be able to do bicep lifts with 10 pounds and now I do it with five, and I use a lot of resistance bands instead of machines because I don't want to go to the gym. I have a nice iron banister and I attach my resistance bands to that. But the essential moves and the essential goal is the same: you want to strengthen your core and your back, which is especially important if you're over 30. You want to be able to carry your grandchildren. And I can still do that.'

On the importance of being active

'Back in [the Workout] days, exercising for me had to do with how I looked. Now it has to do with how I feel. Also, because I'm old, I know from experience that if you don't keep using your muscles and joints, you're going to be in big trouble. They can atrophy very quickly. When you're older you get weak very quickly, and even though you may be sore, or have just had a hip replacement like one of my friends, you have just got to keep doing it. I had my shoulder replaced and, as soon as it wasn't really hurting anymore, I started doing exercises again. The older you get, the more important exercise is – for mental health too. Any psychologists or psychiatrists will tell you about the endorphins that are released in your brain when you do aerobic exercise, and get your heart to speed up so that you're burning calories. They're feel-good chemicals in your brain and we all want to feel good.'

On keeping motivated

'The best motivation is just starting – no matter how you feel. Whether that's working out with an instructor, or with a video, however you want to do it, just start. And then it's how you feel, how your muscles feel, and seeing those changes that will make you want to keep doing it.'

On the women in her life

'Here's the truth: As a little girl growing up, I knew that my mother was the loser. I didn't know why, I just knew that I shouldn't hitch my wagon to her star – whereas my father was the one that I was going to side with. I grew up thinking you have to go with the man, identify with the man, please the man... You have to be close to men. When I was first married, to a French director [Robert Vadim], I served him hand and foot. One of his friends said about me once, "God she's so great, she's just like a guy" and I thought, "oh my god, what a compliment!" That was my mentality then.

When I moved back to the United States in the Seventies, I became an activist and about two-thirds of the activists I met were women, and they changed my life. Being around those women made me look through a keyhole at the world that we were trying to create: a world of fairness and equality and peace, with no racism. They were kind, they were present. They were very different from the women I had known before – and I started wanting to be like them.'

On feminism

'I didn't understand the women's movement at first, I just thought "well this is a waste of time, they should be focusing on ending the war". But as I got to know these activist women I realised that we live in a system that denigrates women and puts men on a pedestal – and that was not totally unconnected to the Vietnam War. Patriarchy and war go together. I finally began to understand feminism on a deeper level.

'I think it was when I saw Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues play that I fully became a feminist. I laughed and cried in that play, but laughter takes you off guard and creeps into your consciousness when your guard is down. That was in the year 2000! So in terms of really understanding feminism and learning to love women, and to love the fact that I am a woman only happened to me 23 years ago. Before that, it was the "if I don't have a strong man at my side, I don't exist" period of my life.'

On being stronger together

'Rugged individualism is a very harmful belief system and it is so destructive to men too. At the end of my third marriage I realised how all the men I've dated, been lovers with or married to were all really harmed by the rugged individual mindset that you don't need anybody and shouldn't show vulnerability – and I didn't understand that until I was a single woman. It robs them of their full humanity.

'You become a full human being only when you realise that we are interdependent. We are at our best and strongest when we join with others and go forward in life and express our needs. When we can say "help, I'm hurting, I'm in trouble, can you help me?" That's what female friendship is about. Men friends don't have that – they're afraid to ask for help or say they're hurting, but that is what women do naturally.

'That's when I started to just love and expand my circle of female friends – and make sure there were some young ones in there too. When I die, I want to be sure I have young women around me to wish me off.'

On partnering with H&M

'I have been public about not shopping for three years, so I know people might be thinking "why the hell is she working with H&M?" I have a lot of clothes and I haven't changed shape for a long time, so I don't need to buy anything new because I can still wear what I used to wear, and I know I'm privileged in that. But even people who aren't in that same situation can be conscious of what they're buying. Ask yourself: "What is the fabric? Where did it come from? How is it made? Is it disposable? Can you recycle it?"

The most important thing is that when you're through with something, you don't throw it away because it ends up in the land. Landfill is one of the main ways we're destroying the world and the oceans. H&M takes returns in its stores through its Garment Collecting programme to recycle it for you. There are opportunities out there for people to be more environmentally conscious in how to shop for clothes, and that's really really important if you want to save the planet.'

Clementina Jackson

Fashion Editor

 Clementina Jackson is the Fashion Editor at Cosmopolitan and Women’s Health UK, covering everything from celebrity style and catwalk trends to buzzy brands and the cult products you need to know about (and shop before they sell out). She also commissions first-person and long-form fashion features, oversees shopping content and tests out the latest industry innovations. Clementina previously worked as Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, during which time she profiled high-end designers, interviewed everyone from Priyanka Chopra to Jane Fonda, and launched the Cut To Size franchise to shine a light on size-inclusive fashion. During this time, she was also named as a PPA 30 Under 30 award winner. Having worked in journalism for more than six years, Clementina has also written for the likes of Harper’s Bazaar, Red, Vanity Fair, Condé Nast Traveller and Italy Segreta, covering everything from luxury travel, lifestyle and restaurants to photography and interiors.