Hollywood legend and political activist Jane Fonda has mapped out her final farewell as she prepares for her twilight years. The mother of three has carefully considered her end-of-life wishes, expressing a heartfelt desire to be "at peace" with her family. At 87, Fonda has turned to therapy to navigate her relationships with her children and ensure she's in the best possible place with them.
The screen icon has chosen to be wrapped in a simple sheet and laid to rest in a field-like cemetery plot next to her second husband, author and activist Tom Hayden, in Santa Monica, California. The environmental advocate has ruled out cremation due to concerns about harmful emissions, reports the Mirror.
The Barbarella actress hopes to draw her last breath while surrounded by her dearest friends and loved ones. She revealed, "I know where I'm going to be buried. I've worked it all out. Cremation is bad because it puts chemicals into the atmosphere.
"The idea of being buried in a wooden box is anathema to me. I'm going to be wrapped in a sheet and put in a hole next to my second husband, who is buried in Santa Monica in a place which is like a native field with native grasses and no headstones, and it's drought-resistant.
"And I don't want the kids to have to go to different places to commune with us. And I believe we can commune with the dead."
Jane reflected on how death is a topic on her mind, telling XMNPR, "I think about my death a lot, and I think that that's very healthy. That thinking about death gives meaning to life, you know?
"At 60, I thought a lot about 'okay this is my last act. This is it. ' First 30 years, second 30 years, my last 30 years. What do I want to get out of it? I want to end it with no regrets, or at least as few regrets as possible. Okay, that means, because if you visualize your death, none of us know how we're going to die, but it's good to have an idea.
"I want to be in my bed in my home surrounded by people who love me. That means I'm going to have to be sure that people love me. I have to earn some love between now and then during my third act. And my dad never spoke when he was dying. I want to be able to talk and give, you know, impart some thoughts and wisdom. I've thought about all that.
"And so it guides how I live in these last years. I'm almost 88. How I live so that I will get to the point that I want to get to when I die."
Jane confessed her final chapter focuses on strengthening bonds with her children. Her eldest daughter Vanessa Vadim, who arrived in 1968, is her sole child with her first spouse, the late French director Roger Vadim.
Tom and Jane had a second child Troy in 1973 and adopted Mary Williams during the 1980s. The Oscar-winning actress is striving for peace with her three children, stating, "I'm going to have to pass away before my kids make peace with me because I certainly have not been a perfect parent. But I've done my best.
"I've gone back into therapy now at 87 because I want to figure out why I'm not a better person and why I wasn't a better parent. And I'm figuring it out. When I said I didn't want to have regrets.
"I don't want to have regrets. And so I've gone into therapy. So I won't have any regrets, and I'll understand what's - what it was all about."
