What has made 2025 especially difficult for Jane Fonda? Veteran actress remembers friends who shaped her life and career
CANNES, FRANCE – MAY 14: Jane Fonda attends “Le Deuxième Acte” (“The Second Act”) Screening & opening ceremony red carpet at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 14, 2024 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)
Jane Fonda is having a challenging year because of the loss of her closest friends. The 87-year-old actress told PEOPLE on November 13, 2025, while attending the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power’s 30th Anniversary celebrations:
“It’s been a tough year.”
She spoke about her colleagues and friends who had passed away, Gene Hackman, Diane Keaton and Robert Redford.
Fonda spoke about Hackman and how the late actor had supported her adolescent power events:
“He came down here to support GCAPP. And we screened Barefoot in the Park,”
Fonda expressed her shock at Diane Keaton’s death, stating that she had just finished a film project with the latter. The duo starred in the 2023 movie Book Club: The Next Chapter.
“And Diane Keaton — I just finished working with her. Boy, I was shocked. Really shocked. You get to be old and everybody is dying around you.”
Her family confirmed Diane Keaton’s death on October 11, 2025. At the time, no details were revealed about her death as the family asked for privacy. It was later revealed that the actress died from pneumonia.
Before that, Robert Redford passed in his Utah home on September 16, 2025. His cause of death hasn’t been made public yet.
The earliest death was Hackman’s. His body was found at his New Mexico home in February. Betsy, his wife, was also discovered dead in the house.
An autopsy ruled that Betsy had died of Hantavirus days before her husband, who died of hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
“I can’t stop crying. He meant a lot to me and was a beautiful person in every way”: Fonda on Redford’s death
Fonda had worked with Redford on several projects over the past decades. She released an emotional statement when news of his death reached her:
“It hit me hard this morning when I read that Bob was gone. I can’t stop crying. He meant a lot to me and was a beautiful person in every way. He stood for an America we have to keep fighting for,”
Fonda described Diane Keaton as a “spark of light” in an emotional Instagram post. The Hollywood stars had worked together in the Book Club franchise. Fonda wrote:
“She was always a spark of life and light, constantly giggling at her own foibles, being limitlessly creative…in her acting, her wardrobe, her books, her friends, her homes, her library, her worldview. Unique is what she was. And, though she didn’t know it or wouldn’t admit it, man, she was a fine actress!”
Fonda, who worked with Gene Hackman at the early stage of her career, praised the latter for showing up to support her.
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