Recommendations of the Editorial team
Hours after news of Ted Turner’s death broke, actress Jane Fonda – married to the media mogul behind CNN, TBS, TNT and Turner Classic Movies from 1991 to 2001 – looked back on their life together in a moving Instagram post. “Being needed and cared for at the same time is something that changes you completely,” she wrote. “Ted Turner helped me believe in myself. He gave me confidence. I think I did the same for him – but that’s what women are raised to do. Men like Ted should not show neediness and vulnerability. That was Ted’s greatest strength, I think.”
Fonda and Turner were one of the great power couples of the ’90s, and although their marriage ended in strife, they remained on very good terms. She affectionately called him her “dearest ex-husband.”
“[Mit Ted] “There were moments of tenderness when we looked into each other’s eyes and melted into each other,” she wrote in her 2005 memoir “My Life So Far.” “There were moments when something made us laugh so hard that we sank to the ground – like that night when we collapsed from laughter at the bottom of the stairs from ‘Gone With the Wind’ on his plantation and had to crawl into bed on all fours.”
Sailor, strategist, conservationist
In her post on Wednesday, she praised his achievements beyond the media empire and mentioned that he won the America’s Cup “as the world’s best sailor. He lived a great life, had a brilliant mind and an exuberant sense of humor,” she wrote.
She added that she learned a lot from him, including “about nature and wildlife, hunting and fishing (hunters and fishermen who obey the law are the best environmentalists), but also about economics and strategy.”
“Ted was a great strategist. It was probably in his blood, but he had studied the classics in college, knew the Peloponnesian War inside and out and the strategies of Alexander the Great and even Genghis Khan,” she said. “And sailing big boats further honed that strategic talent, which he then brought to his companies with great success. He could think outside the box, for sure.”
Challenging but always worth it
Fonda highlighted that Turner was also driven by extreme ambition, calling it “fascinating to witness.” “Ted was a challenge, but I was always up for a challenge – and with Ted it was almost always worth it,” she said.
“I loved Ted with all my heart. I see him now in heaven, surrounded by all the wildlife he saved from extinction – the black-footed polecats, the prairie dogs, the bighorn sheep, the Mexican gray wolf, the Yellowstone wolf pack, bison, the red-barred woodpecker and so many more; all of them standing at the gates of heaven applauding him and thanking him for saving their species.
“Five children survive him, five talented, diverse children that I had the privilege of being a stepmother to. I had four stepmothers myself and know how important stepmothers can be – so we all did our best to build an extended, motley family and I love them to this day,” she concluded. “If being married to him was complicated, imagine how complicated being his child was. And they’re all getting along just fine. Rest in peace, dearest Ted. You are loved and will be remembered.”
