Jane Fonda sent social media swooning with a heartwarming tribute to her favorite ex-husband.
The actress and activist, 88, paid tribute to CNN founder Ted Turner after he died at age 87 on Wednesday, following a yearslong battle with Lewy body dementia and a bout of mild pneumonia last year.
The storied couple was married from 1991 to 2001. Though Fonda said in her divorce filing that their marriage was “irretrievably broken,” she remained good friends with Turner over the years, at one point exclaiming that he was her “favorite ex-husband.”
“He swept into my life, a gloriously handsome, deeply romantic, swashbuckling pirate and I’ve never been the same,” Fonda wrote in a lengthy tribute posted to Instagram.
The actress hailed Turner as a man with “a big life, a brilliant mind and a soaring sense of humor” while pulling back the curtain on their relationship.
“He needed me. No one had ever let me know they needed me, and this wasn’t your average human being that needed me, this was the creator of CNN, and Turner Classic Movies, who had won the America’s Cup as the world’s greatest sailor,” she wrote. “He could also take care of me. That was new as well. To be needed and cared for simultaneously is transformative.”
“Men like Ted aren’t supposed to express need and vulnerability,” she continued. “That was Ted’s greatest strength, I believe.”
Dubbed “Captain Outrageous” and “Mouth of the South” for his outspoken personality, Turner grew his empire over the years to include professional sports teams such as the Atlanta Braves and the Atlanta Hawks. He was also an influential philanthropist, supporting a variety of causes including sustainable energy, biodiversity, and even the global response to nuclear threats.
“Ted was the most competitive person I have ever met and that was fascinating to witness,” Fonda recalled. “Ted was challenging, but I’ve always been up for a challenge, and with Ted it was almost always worth it.”
“I loved Ted with all my heart. I see him in heaven now with all the wildlife he helped bring back from extinction—the black footed ferrets, the prairie dogs, Big Horned sheep, Mexican Gray Wolf, the Yellowstone wolf pack, bison, the red cockaded woodpecker and so many more, they’re all gathered at the pearly gates applauding and thanking him for saving their species,” she added.
Turner is survived by five children, 14 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
His first two children, Laura Turner Seydel and Robert Edward ‘Teddy’ Turner IV, came during his first marriage to Julia Gale Nye. He then had three children with his second wife, Jane Shirley Smith—Rhett Turner, Reed Beauregard ‘Beau’ Turner, and Jennie Turner.
“If it was complicated to be married to him, think how complicated it was being his child. And they are all doing fine. Rest in Peace, dearest Ted. You are loved and you will be remembered,” Fonda concluded.
