Excerpt
PROLOGUE
Only Jane Fonda could upstage Oprah Winfrey. It happened on February 10, 2001, during a performance of Eve Enslerand#8217;s Vagina Monologues, which was being acted out by sixty megastars in front of a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden. The show was a fundraiser for V-Day, the international organization that works to prevent violence toward women.
and#160;and#160;Iand#8217;ll never forget it.
and#160;and#160;All the celebrities, including Oprah, stood in a semicircle reciting their vignettes about womenand#8217;s sexual triumphs and tragedies from index cardsand#8212;all the celebrities except Jane, who had memorized her piece and when it was her turn stepped out of the circle and gave a spellbinding rendition about what itand#8217;s like to watch oneand#8217;s grandchild emerge bloody and screaming from his motherand#8217;s womb. By turns anxious, tender, and emotional, Jane ended the monologue with and#8220;and I was there in the room. I remember.and#8221;
and#160;and#160;The audience gave a loud cheer. At that point, Jane curtsied to a dark-haired young woman who was seated in the front row. It turned out the young woman was Janeand#8217;s daughter, Vanessa Vadim. Months before, Jane had assisted the midwife at the birth of Vanessaand#8217;s son, Malcolm. Jane was paying her homage.
Afterward there was a noisy party at the cavernous Hammerstein Ballroom. Jane was surrounded by so many admirers that I had to push my way through the crowd to congratulate her.
and#160;and#160;and#8220;I did it! I did it!and#8221; she exclaimed to me, eyes sparkling. She hadnand#8217;t acted in thirteen years and she suffered from and#8220;such God-awful stage fright I was petrified I wouldnand#8217;t be able to get through it,and#8221; she confided to me, and#8220;but I did.and#8221;
and#160;and#160;We gripped hands.
and#160;and#160;Jane and I have known each other since the 1960s. We were kids then, studying with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. I was an actress for ten years on Broadway before switching to journalism, while Jane was refashioning herself as Barbarella.
and#160;and#160;I wrote my first article about Jane in 1970 for McCalland#8217;s magazine. She had just been nominated for an Academy Award for her searing performance as the suicidal marathon dancer in They Shoot Horses, Donand#8217;t They? She went on to win Oscars for both Klute and Coming Home, movies that defined her political evolution.
and#160;and#160;For the next three decades I continued to write stories about her: when she was burned in effigy as Hanoi Jane, and a couple of years after, when the Gallup Poll listed her as one of the most admired women in the world along with Mother Teresa.
and#160;and#160;Jane polarizes, and the public remains fascinated by her. She has an extraordinary ability to reinvent herself in response to the times. Consider that she transformed herself from movie star to political activist to exercise guru to tycoon wife and now, in the twenty-first century, sheand#8217;s turning into an exemplary philanthropist. She doesnand#8217;t generate, she reactsand#8212;to people, places, and events; everything about the fast-paced, chaotic reality that is American life turns her on.
and#160;and#160;But then I realize that above all she is a consummate actress who has an uncanny ability to inhabit various characters at will. She once told me, and#8220;The weird thing about acting is that you get paid for discovering you have multiple personalities.and#8221; Jane can will herself into becoming whatever she wants to become. Which is why I wanted to write this book about her.
and#160;and#160;In 2000 I began researching. Jane had given the project her blessing, so I interviewed scores of her friends and colleagues. But Jane herself refused to speak to me. She said it was because she was writing her own memoir and didnand#8217;t want to give anything away. Then in January 2003, she suddenly changed her mind and invited me to come to her ranch in New Mexico for a week. and#8220;Iand#8217;m going over my FBI files and you can help me. I donand#8217;t feel like doing it alone,and#8221; she said. I agreed, and I wasnand#8217;t surprised; Jane constantly changes her mind. Thatand#8217;s the way she isand#8212;full of contradictions.
and#160;and#160;I wasnand#8217;t surprised either to receive the following e-mail from her a couple of days later:
Sat 18 Jan 2003