Jane Fonda is remembering her ex-husband and CNN founder Ted Turner, after news of his death was announced on Wednesday.
Fonda took to social media to share the tribute, and reflect on her “immediate thoughts” about Turner. “He came into my life, a very handsome, very romantic, adventurous pirate, and I was never the same. He needed me. No one ever told me he needed me, and this wasn’t the average human being who needed me. This was the creator of CNN, Turner Classic Movies, who won the America’s Cup as the world’s greatest sailor,” she wrote in the caption of her Instagram post on Wednesday. “He had a big life, a brilliant mind, and a great sense of humor.”
She continued: “He could also take care of me. That was new too. To be needed and cared for at the same time is transformative. 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 are not supposed to express neediness and weakness. I think that was Ted’s greatest strength.”
Fonda also described how much he taught her and how strategic and competitive he was.
“I loved Ted with all my heart. I see him in heaven now with all the wildlife he helped bring back from extinction,” she continued before sharing an update on his children. “Five children survive him, five talented, complex children to whom I had the honor of being a stepmother. I had four stepmothers growing up and I know how important stepmothers are, so we all did our best to build an extended family, and I love them to this day. If being married to him is complicated, think about how complicated being a child is. And they’re all doing well.” (Read the full tribute below.)
The two-time Oscar winner was married to Turner for a decade from 1991 to 2001. After their split, the pair remained close friends, with Fonda previously calling him her “favorite ex-husband.” Fonda was married three times, with Turner being her third husband.
Fonda’s comment came just two hours after it was announced that Turner had died at the age of 87. According to a family statement released by Turner Enterprises, he died peacefully surrounded by his family. In recent years, Turner suffered from Lewy body dementia.
Turner launched CNN in 1980 and helped build the cable business through satellite broadcasting. He went on to launch TNT, TCM, and Cartoon Network, then sold his media empire to Time Warner in 1995 for $6.5 billion. He later focused on environmental and political causes.
David Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros., wrote: Discovery, also the current owner of the properties built by Turner, said in part in a memo to WBD employees on Wednesday: “Ted was a visionary, a pioneer, and a founding force behind many of the brands that are essential to Warner Bros. Discovery today. Ted’s entrepreneurial spirit, creative ambition, and willingness to take risks changed the media industry forever. He believed strongly in the power of ideas, in doing things differently, and in building platforms that could inform, inspire, and connect people around the world. This belief has inspired generations of leaders, including Including me, and he didn’t just disrupt the media.
