Jane Fonda’s Parenting Regret Is Heartbreakingly Relatable

Jane Fonda is reflecting on one of her biggest regrets: Parenting.

As mom to Vanessa Vadim, 54, Mary Luana Williams, 55, and Troy O’Donovan Garity, 49, “I was not the kind of mother that I wished that I had been to my children,” Fonda said in an interview with CNN that aired Feb. 21. “I have great, great children—talented, smart. And I just didn’t know how to do it.”

But, through her advocacy work, the 85-year-old has learned better. “I’ve studied parenting, and I know what it’s supposed to be now,” she confessed. “I didn’t know then. So I’m trying to show up now.”

Rectifying her past mistakes is a priority as she enters her last stage of life.

“It’s so important to try to clear everything up before you go,” the Grace and Frankie star shared. “What I’m really scared of is getting to the end of life with a lot of regrets when there’s no time to do anything about it. It’s one reason I’m trying to get it all done before I come to the end.”