Jane Fonda, who is set to turn 88 later this month, is speaking out to reveal why this has been a “tough year” for her.
Fonda’s ‘Tough Year’
Fonda, 87, is admitting that she’s having a rough time dealing with the 2025 deaths of her fellow Hollywood icons Gene Hackman, Robert Redford and Diane Keaton.
“It’s been a tough year,” Fonda confessed to People Magazine.
Hackman sadly died back in February at the age of 95. He won the Oscar for Best Actor for his work in 1971’s The French Connection. This is also the same year that Fonda won her first Oscar for Best Actress for Klute.
When asked directly about Hackman, Fonda replied, “You know, there’s him and Redford.”
“He came down here to support GCAPP. And we screened Barefoot in the Park,” she later added. This was a reference to the classic 1967 romantic drama that she starred in with Redford. Sadly, Redford died in September at the age of 89.
Nearly one month later, Keaton died at the age of 79. This came after a private battle with pneumonia. Indeed, her death came as a shock to even her closest friends, as only her family seems to have known that she was even ill. Keaton and Fonda had previously starred together in the 2023 comedy Book Club: The Next Chapter.
“And Diane Keaton — I just finished working with her,” Fonda lamented. “Boy, I was shocked. Really shocked. You get to be old and everybody is dying around you.”
Fonda Mourns Redford
Fonda didn’t publicly address the passings of Hackman and Keaton at the times of their respective deaths. However, she did release a brief statement about Redford.
“It hit me hard this morning when I read that Bob was gone. I can’t stop crying. He meant a lot to me and was a beautiful person in every way. He stood for an America we have to keep fighting for,” Fonda said after Redford died at his home in Utah of undisclosed causes on September 16.
Fonda and Redford starred together in five movies over the course of six decades: 1960’s Tall Story, 1966’s The Chase, Barefoot in the Park, 1979’s The Electric Horseman and 2017’s Our Souls at Night.
Back in 2008, Fonda gushed about how much she loved working with Redford.
“He is so handsome and just such a wonderful human being,” she said at the time. “Every movie I made with him, I developed a crush on him.”
Watch Fonda talk about her love for Redford after his death in the video below.
Hackman’s Strange Death
Though Hackman was the oldest of these three stars at the time of his passing, his manner of death might just have been the most shocking.
Hackman was found dead at his home in New Mexico with his wife Betsy Arakawa, 65, on February 26. Investigators found that Arakawa had been dead for two weeks at the time her body was discovered.
Hackman, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, is believed to have been in the house alone with her body for about a week before he succumbed sometime around February 18. His cause of death is listed as being hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with Alzheimer’s being a contributing factor. It is believed that Hackman’s Alzheimer’s was so advanced that the actor was unaware that his wife had died.
Find out more about this in the video below.
While we certainly don’t agree with Fonda on much, she’s definitely right in saying that one of the hardest parts of getting older is watching friends pass away. At least we can all find comfort in knowing that Hackman, Redford, and Keaton will never be forgotten.
Rest in peace Gene Hackman, Robert Redford, and Diane Keaton.