Jane Fonda Gets Candid About the Painful Truth Behind Her On-Screen Sex Scenes

Yahoo

5 days ago

Jane Fonda is opening up about the emotional toll of filming intimate scenes without the protection actors now receive.
At 87, the Oscar-winning actress is reflecting on her early career and revealing how much she wishes intimacy coordinators had existed back when she needed them the most.
However, Fonda's assertions differ from those of actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who earlier said she didn't need an intimacy coordinator while filming "Marty Supreme" alongside Timothée Chalamet.
Hollywood legend Fonda is once again sparking conversation, this time about the behind-the-scenes challenges many actors silently endured for decades.
While at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, the veteran actress revealed just how isolating and uncomfortable filming sex scenes could be during the early days of her career.
In an interview with Women's Wear Daily, Fonda was asked about how the film industry has changed since the rise of the #MeToo movement. She didn't hold back.
"Every time you begin a movie, you have training. What to do if there's a problem. That never happened," Fonda said per PEOPLE Magazine, noting how little guidance or protection there used to be on set.
"I wish that we had them when I was doing sex scenes because it's hard," she continued. "You want me to say to a guy you're supposed to look like you're in love with and you say, 'But please don't uncover my breast on the left side.' You know, you don't do that."
This isn't the first time Fonda has shared raw, personal stories about the emotional strain of her early film work.
In the 2022 documentary "Body Parts," directed by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, Fonda spoke candidly about her experience in the 1968 sci-fi cult classic "Barbarella," in which she played a sensual space traveler.
"I was at a place in my life where if you were asked to do something, especially by a man, you did it," Fonda admitted.
In recent years, intimacy coordinators have become an essential part of film and television sets, ensuring actors feel safe and respected while filming intimate scenes.
Many modern-day stars have praised their presence, and like Fonda, some wish they had this support earlier in their careers.
Oscar winner Kate Winslet is among those who have opened up about the emotional weight of navigating these scenes alone.
"I would have benefited from an intimacy coordinator every single time I had to do a love scene or be partially naked or even a kissing scene," Winslet told The New York Times. "It would have been nice to have had someone in my corner, because I always had to stand up for myself."
Winslet also described moments she now wishes she had handled differently. "'I don't like that camera angle. I don't want to stand here full-frontal nude. I don't want this many people in the room. I want my dressing gown to be closer,'" she said. "Just little things like that."
"When you're young, you're so afraid of pissing people off or coming across as rude or pathetic because you might need those things," Winslet added. "So learning to have a voice for oneself in those environments was very, very hard."
Although many celebrities see the need for intimacy coordinators, Paltrow, who recently returned to serious acting, doesn't think it is necessary.
While reflecting on her intimate scenes with Timothée Chalamet in the movie, "Marty Supreme," Paltrow shared her thoughts on intimacy directors.
She told Vanity Fair, "There's now something called an intimacy coordinator, which I did not know existed."
Paltrow added, "When 'Marty Supreme's' intimacy coordinator asked me if I'd be comfortable with a particular move during the filming of an intimate scene, I was like, 'Girl, I'm from the era where you get naked, you get in bed, the camera's on.'"
She emphasized that she and Chalamet were able to handle the intimate scenes with minimal external supervision.
"We said, 'I think we're good. You can step a little bit back,'" she recalled. "I don't know how it is for kids who are starting out, but…if someone is like, 'Okay, and then he's going to put his hand here,' I would feel, as an artist, very stifled by that."
After news of Paltrow's comments went viral, film executive Caroline Hollick criticized her for downplaying the importance of intimacy coordinators in film.
Hollick, speaking at the "Series Mania" panel titled Let's Talk About Sex! (And Consent), described the comment as "irresponsible."
She added per Deadline, "As a powerful woman in Hollywood acting with a man younger than her, well I'm sure [Chalamet] is chill but I thought it was quite an irresponsible thing to say."
Hollick stressed that intimacy coordinators play a crucial role on set, saying, "Bringing an intimacy coordinator on set empowers an actor because there is someone on side who is there to fight for them."
She highlighted how directors, producers, and writers all have their own agendas, but coordinators support the performer's comfort and safety.