Jane Fonda Reveals She Had a Nervous Breakdown Trying to Relate to Her Character Grace

Playing the well-loved character Grace in “Grace and Frankie” led Jane Fonda to have an emotional breakdown.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 81-year-old actress revealed that he had to go back into therapy and start taking anti-depressants.

“It took me a long time to figure out [my relationship to this character]. I had a nervous breakdown during the first season, and I discovered it's because the very first episode our husbands tell us that they are going to leave us after 40 years and marry each other and that triggered abandonment,” she said, choking up a bit.

Fonda continued, “It was a big trigger, and I didn't realize that a character in a comedy could actually trigger something very profound. And so, I love her, and I learned to invite her into the room. After the first season, I couldn't have written a backstory for her; and then I wrote 30 pages without ever stopping. But I don't really want to have to be anything like her. We have too much in common as it is.”

"I’ve been raped, I’ve been sexually abused as a child and I’ve been fired because I wouldn’t sleep with my boss..."

“Grace and Frankie” tells the story of two women with a strained relationship as they try to cope together after finding out that their husbands are not just work partners but have also been romantically involved for the last twenty years.

Fonda also opened up about what it’s like to portray older female sexuality.

“[Our] culture doesn't like people with wrinkles to be talking about sex,” she said. “And kids don't like to think about their parents doing it, either. But the fastest-growing demographic in the world is older women, and a lot of them are doing it very pleasurably.”

The iconic actress recently revealed that she always thought it's her fault that she had been sexually abused as a child.

She revealed that the men in her life were "victims of the patriarchal belief system," who left her feeling "diminished."

"I’ve been raped, I’ve been sexually abused as a child and I’ve been fired because I wouldn’t sleep with my boss, and I always thought it was my fault, that I didn’t do or say the right thing," she said.

Fonda is truly unafraid to speak out for herself and all women.