Jane Fonda celebrates her 85th amid cancer remission

Jane Fonda, a two-time Oscar winning actor, prominent women's rights activist and fitness guru, continued her star billing — and her workouts — after she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

As she starred in this year's final season of the hit Netflix comedy series "Grace and Frankie," Fonda was undergoing chemotherapy treatment for the disease.

But the actress, who won her first best actress Oscar for 1971's "Klute," said last week that she had been given a clean bill of health — ahead of her 85th birthday on December 21. 

"I was told by my oncologist that my cancer is in remission and I can discontinue chemo," she wrote in a blog post titled "Best Birthday Present Ever."

"I am feeling so blessed, so fortunate. I thank all of you who prayed and sent good thoughts my way. I am confident that it played a role in the good news."

Fonda, who shot to fame in the 1960s for cult films like the sci-fi comedy "Barbarella," revealed in September that she had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer that starts in the lymphatic system that regulates the body's immune defenses. 

She said the first four treatments "were rather easy for me," but that the last "was rough" and made it "hard to accomplish much of anything."

But the seven-time Oscar-nominated Hollywood legend continues with her fitness routine, made famous with her workout videos released in the 1980s — the latest came out on DVD in 2010.

"Even the days that I get chemo, I still do a workout," she told People magazine. "It's slow and not what it used to be, but still, I'm moving and keeping strong."

Jane Fonda's acting pedigree

That Fonda became a famous actress might not seem surprising, given that her father was the legendary stage and screen star Henry Fonda and her brother, the actor-director and "Easy Rider" star Peter Fonda. 

Born in New York City in 1937 and named Jayne Seymour after the third wife of Henry VIII — supposedly a distant relative — Jane Fonda initially wanted to study art.

After two influential years in Paris, she turned to her new passion, acting, in 1958, making her critically-acclaimed Broadway debut in 1960 in a production of "There was a Little Girl."

Her film debut in "Tall Story," was released in 1960, but she achieved her breakthrough with the comedy western "Cat Ballou" in 1965.

In 1968, Fonda starred in the title role of "Barbarella," which established her as a sex symbol.

She received her first of seven Oscar nominations for the 1969 Depression-era drama "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" and won the best actress award twice, in 1971 for a prostitute in the murder mystery "Klute" and in 1978 for the Vietnam War drama "Coming Home."

As her critical success grew, Fonda restricted her appearances to roles she felt would be of significance. She announced her retirement from film in the 1990s, but returned to the big screen in "Monster-in-Law" in 2005 and the Broadway stage in 2009.

Of late, Fonda has enjoyed a renaissance alongside co-star Lily Tomlin in the acclaimed series "Grace and Frankie," a Netflix comedy about two older women whose marriages are suddenly turned upside down.

Hollywood's outspoken activist

Today, Fonda speaks out regularly on behalf of women's rights both domestically and around the world. Her gender equality work is built on a long history of activism that began in the 1970s.

Influenced by her contact with French leftist intellectuals while in Paris, Fonda became a counterculture icon. She voiced support for Black activists, the Black Panthers, campaigned for the rights of Native Americans and working mothers, and, perhaps most famously, actively opposed US military involvement in the Vietnam War.

This took her across the country to college campuses and military forts, led to her being arrested multiple times, and even raised cries of treason when, during a July 1972 trip to Vietnam, the then-36-year-old was photographed on a North Vietnam anti-aircraft gun — an image that continues to cause condemnation from veterans and soldiers and earned her the nickname "Hanoi Jane."

Speaking out for women's rights

Over the decades, Fonda has become a leading voice of the feminist movement.

In 2005, she co-founded the Women's Media Center with poet Robin Morgan and journalist-activist Gloria Steinem. She also serves on the board of directors for the organization, The Sisterhood Is Global, which bills itself as "the think tank of international Feminism" and fights violence against women worldwide through crowdfunding.

Fonda also took to the streets of Los Angeles in January 2017 to take part in the Women's March and protest Donald Trump's inauguration.

Shortly after the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse scandal broke in 2017 and spawned the MeToo movement, Fonda expressed regret about not speaking out sooner:  "I found out about Harvey about a year ago and I'm ashamed that I didn't say anything right then," she said in the TV interview.

Oscar winner is 'not afraid of dying'

Fonda also started her own "Climate PAC" to influence politicians to take "meaningful action on climate."

"Our planet is on fire and our leaders are failing us, so if we can't change the minds of the people in power, we need to change the people in power," she states on the Climate PAC website.

Her climate activism is partly for her grandchildren, she told People.

"I just want my young grandchildren to know that grandma did her best," she said, adding that her ongoing work is an example for others who are aging.  

"I've lived a good life. I've lived a productive and intentional life," she said. "And dying is part of life. I hope that I can be an example to young people so they won't be afraid of getting older."

Edited by: Manasi Gopalakrishnan