Jane Fonda Breaks Silence on Ex-Husband Ted Turner’s Death

Jane Fonda is mourning her late ex-husband Ted Turner.

“He swept into my life, a gloriously handsome, deeply romantic, swashbuckling pirate and I’ve never been the same,” the actress, 88, wrote in a tribute via Instagram on Wednesday, May 6, following news that he died.

Fonda continued, “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.”

Fonda recalled how Turner also took “care of” her in a way that she did not realize she needed. (The former couple were married from 1991 to 2001.)

“To be needed and cared for simultaneously is transformative. Ted Turner helped me believe in myself. He gave me confidence,” she recalled. “I think I did the same for him, but that’s what women are raised to do. Men like Ted aren’t supposed to express need and vulnerability. That was Ted’s greatest strength, I believe.”

Fonda reflected on how intellectual Turner was in a broad scope of areas including nature and business, which made him excel as a media mogul, philanthropist and conservationist.

“Ted was supremely strategic. It was likely innate, but he studied the Classics in college, knew about the Peleponesian War inside and out and the strategies used by Alexander the Great and even Genghis Khan,” she penned. “And sailing big boats as he did further honed those strategic talents which he then brought into his businesses to much success. He could see around corners for sure.”

Some of Fonda’s best memories with Turner, who she previously called her “favorite ex-husband,” stemmed from his “competitive” nature.

“Next to Katharine Hepburn, Ted was the most competitive person I have ever met and that was fascinating to witness,” she shared. “Whether it was who’d made the most ski runs at the end of the day, to acres of land owned (stewarded is the more fitting word for his relationship to land), who had the most billions, how many countries he’d made love to his prior lover in and could I match that, it was challenging. Ted was challenging, but I’ve always been up for a challenge, and with Ted it was almost always worth it.”

While Fonda and Turner were married for a decade, she always had love for the CNN founder even after they parted ways. (Fonda was also previously married to Tom Hayden and Roger Vadim.)

“I loved Ted with all my heart,” she reflected. “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.”

Fonda also gushed about Turner’s five “talented” children, Laura, Teddy, Beau, Rhett and Jennie.

“I had four stepmothers growing up and I know how important stepmothers can be,” she shared. “So we all did our best to build an extended, rag tag family, and I love them to this day. If it was complicated to be married to him, think how complicated it was being his child. And they are all doing fine.”

“Rest in Peace, dearest Ted. You are loved and you will be remembered,” she concluded.

News broke on Wednesday that Turner died at age 87.

“Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement,” CNN Worldwide chairman and CEO Mark Thompson said in a statement. “He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN.”

While an official cause of death has yet to be revealed, Turner battled Lewy body dementia before he died.