Jane Fonda had a nervous breakdown when she started filming Netflix show 'Grace and Frankie'
Award-winning actress Jane Fonda said she initially struggled to adjust to her character Grace Hanson at the start of her Netflix series titled 'Grace and Frankie' in 2015.
In a group interview which included Tiffany Haddish, Phoebe-Waller Bridge, Alex Borstein, Regina Hall, Natasha Lyonne, and Maya Rudolph, the 81-year-old actor revealed that she had suffered a "nervous breakdown" when she was filming the first season of the popular comedy series.
She believed it came as a result of her character's main plotline, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
"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, in the very first episode, our husbands tell us that they are going to leave us after 40 years and marry each other. That triggered abandonment," Fonda shared.
Fonda has been starring on the Netflix show since 2015 along with Lily Tomlin and was also nominated for an Emmy in 2017 for her role.
Despite her immense success, the beginning of the series was a challenge for Fonda who did not realize the toll her character would take on her personally.
Fonda revealed, "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."
Eventually, Fonda was able to accept and appreciate the differences between her and her character Grace and also helped to form the character's story on the show.
"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," she shared.
In September, Fonda spoke to People about her 10-year marriage to Ted Turner whom she left in 2001 and said, "He was sexy. He was brilliant. He had two million acres by the time I left. It would have been easy to stay. But there was this angel on my shoulder… It was hard to even hear her voice: ‘If you stay, you will die without ever becoming who you can be. You will not really be authentic.'"
