There appears to have been no bad blood between the late media mogul Ted Turner and his ex-wife, actress Jane Fonda.
Turner died at age 87 on Wednesday following an eight-year battle with Lewy body dementia. He and Fonda, 88, were married from 1991 to 2001, and were both each other’s third marriages.
While it ultimately did not work out, Fonda has referred to Turner as her “favorite ex-husband.”
As of 2008, Fonda said she still had a “very good relationship” with her ex-husband, adding, “Life is too short to be fighting.”
Just six months before his death, Fonda became emotional while speaking about Turner at a charity event for the nonprofit they founded, the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential, which works to “improve the overall health and well-being of young people,” the organization’s website states.
They founded the charity in 1995, when they were still married and living together in Atlanta. She said that the organization “never would have happened if it wasn’t for Ted.”
“It was a very challenging time in Georgia. Had I not been with Ted, this was something, had he not stood by me with his love and support, we never would have survived,” Fonda said in November. “Ted’s not here, but he is here in my heart and I know he is here in a lot of our hearts.”
The couple wed at Turner’s 8,100-acre plantation in Northern Florida. They then embarked on their honeymoon, where they invited their children from their previous marriages, Fonda’s three and Turner’s five.
But, just a month after the wedding, Fonda says she learned that Turner had been unfaithful. The couple remained married for several years, but Fonda’s decision to lean into the Christian faith ultimately drove them apart, she wrote in her memoir.
At the time of their divorce in April, 2002, Fonda said the marriage was “irretrievably broken.”
For the next two decades, the pair remained on good terms, attending charity events together.
One year after her divorce, upon seeing him at a charity event, Fonda exclaimed, “My favorite ex-husband!” People reported at the time.
Turner, credited with creating the 24-hour news cycle, built a media empire that included brands like CNN, TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, and Turner Classic Movies. He was also the longtime owner of the Atlanta Braves, and he and Fonda attended many games during the team’s 1990’s domination.
In a statement on his death, CNN CEO Mark Thompson said, “Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement.”
“Ted is the giant on whose shoulders we stand, and we will all take a moment today to recognize him and his impact on our lives and the world,” the statement continued.
After his 2018 diagnosis with Lewy body dementia, Fonda told CNN, “I will never love anyone like I love him.”
