Jane Fonda is opening up about her storied personal life, revealing sometakes on Marlon Brando and how she regrets passing over Marvin Gaye for a romantic evening. Fonda expanded on her private life in a profile with the New York Times, taking on a series of “confirm or deny” questions ahead of her new book release.
According to the New York Times (via Vulture), Fonda said she passed up the chance to spend the night with Motown legend Marvin Gaye. The question itself was framed around passing up a chance with revolutionary Che Guevara.
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“Who I do think about, and what is a great regret is Marvin Gaye,” she divulged. “He wanted to and I didn’t. I was married to Tom [Hayden],” Fonda revealed, using a reference to Gaye’s song “Sexual Healing” to finish her memory. “I needed some but he didn’t say that, no,” she continued. “But then I read, apparently he had my picture on his refrigerator. I didn’t find that out until later, after he was dead.”
She wasn’t as kind to Marlon Brando. Fonda had a relationship with Brando, keeping it short by saying he was “disappointing” while still admitting he was a “great actor.” The Daily Mail adds that there was an interesting connection between Gaye and Brando. Citing a 2018 Vulture interview with Quincy Jones, the music legend revealed Brando slept with Gaye and reportedly had an insatiable sexual appetite.
“Brando would f— anything. Anything! He’d f— a mailbox. James Baldwin. Richard Pryor. Marvin Gaye,” Jones said in the surprisingly frank interview. Gaye’s son would deny the tale, saying the story didn’t bother the family because the family knows Gaye.
“My dad was a ladies man. Everybody loved my dad but my dad didn’t have anything against homosexuals. He was about love. I think he would have laughed it off personally,” Marvin Gaye’s son said after the Jones interview. Given what Fonda said, many would likely agree.
Fonda has always been vocal about her relationships. Speaking with PEOPLE in 2018, Fonda said she was always “defined” by men connected to her life. It wasn’t until her 60s that Fonda claims she was free of that distinction.
“Up until my sixties, I was to an extent, defined by the men in my life. I was brought up to please,” Fonda told the outlet. “I wanted my father to love me so I would turn myself into a pretzel to be what he wanted me to be, not necessarily what I already was. It took me getting into my sixties, and then I began to become who I was supposed to be all along.”
