While chatting with ET on Sunday, the 'Grace and Frankie' star called herself a 'late bloomer.'
Happy (almost) birthday, Jane Fonda!
The Grace and Frankie star doesn't turn 80 until Dec. 21, but celebrated early with a star-studded "Eight Decades of Jane" fundraiser event in Atlanta, Georgia, over the weekend. ET was there as she raised $1.3 million for her foundation, the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power & Potential, which she founded in 1995.
Ahead of her milestone birthday, Fonda told ET's Keltie Knight that out of all her decades here on this earth, there are none she would do over if given the chance.
"Right now is my favorite," she gushed. "I am happy, I'm healthy, I have great friends, my family is OK and my loins are guarded for action."
"I have a mantra but I don't know how to answer that, it's just day to day," Fonda added, when asked if there's a "secret sauce" to staying fabulous all these years. "I have had to stay balanced, centered, healthy, I have good friends and I am blessed to have a steady job on Grace and Frankie and my health -- it is important to have your health."
Fonda's ex-husband, billionaire media mogul Ted Turner, whom she was married to from 1991-2001, was also on hand to help her kick off the celebrations and raise money for charity.
"This thing about not needing a man, I needed a man to define me until I was about 70," Fonda, who moved to Georgia when she wed Turner, joked. "I'm a late bloomer."
When Knight asked what she's learned about love since then, she gave a hilarious response.
"Nothing," Fonda exclaimed. "I am not cut out for it!"
All jokes aside, Fonda was ecstatic to be at the event for her GCAPP organization, which provides sexual health education and helps prevent teen pregnancy.
"It's not good for a state to have young kids having babies too soon, and so I decided to start the organization to do something about it," Fonda shared. "The rates have fallen 66 percent in 22 years."
And when asked about what she hopes her legacy to be, Fonda was all smiles while looking back at her years in the spotlight.
"That I grew and I learned and I made the best of my life that I could," she said. "I'm not excellent at anything, but I feel that I've made the most of the gifts that I've been given. So, I feel good about that. I don't know if that's a legacy, but I kind of never took for granted what I had. I always tried to do more, be better. Even now, I feel like I'm just starting as an actress, so I approach it differently and I'm happy to say I enjoy it more in a way."
ET also caught up with the legendary actress in September, where she revealed why she's the happiest she's ever been.
"I've worked hard to get here, and I've worked hard to stay healthy," she explained. "I think it's important to live life with intention, because otherwise, you’re just sort of at the mercy of fate."
As we patiently wait for Grace and Frankie to return for a fourth season on Netflix on Jan. 19, hear more from our exclusive interview with Fonda in the video below!
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