Jane Fonda revealed her one regret about the famous love scene she shared with Robert Redford

Hollywood is grieving the death of one of its defining legends, Robert Redford, who died at 89 at his home in Utah. For actress Jane Fonda, however, the loss carries an especially personal weight.

Redford was more than a celebrated performer; to generations of viewers, he embodied the very idea of a movie star. His blond hair, striking blue eyes and natural charisma drew attention wherever he appeared. People did not simply respect his work — many found themselves captivated by him.

From his earliest days in Hollywood, his unusual presence was obvious. Accounts from the time say secretaries would hurry from their offices merely to see him walk past. Audiences were enchanted, while filmmakers immediately recognized a screen magnetism that could never be learned.

Jane Fonda was among those affected by his charm. The Grace and Frankie actress became emotional while speaking about the man who won her affection in their films and, in important ways, beyond the screen as well.

She fell deeply for him

Fonda said learning that Bob was gone struck her with tremendous force. She explained that she could not stop crying, that he had meant a great deal to her and that she regarded him as a beautiful human being in every sense. She also praised what he represented, saying he stood for a version of America that people must continue fighting to protect.

Their partnership in movies extended across five decades. It began with projects including Tall Story and Barefoot in the Park and continued through Our Souls at Night, the last film they made together. With every reunion, the connection between them appeared to become even stronger. A promotional portrait from Barefoot in the Park, directed by Gene Saks in 1967, captured them early in that shared history.

Fonda later posted an Instagram photograph taken during Our Souls at Night with Redford and actor Iain Armitage. Alongside it, she looked back on a friendship filled with laughter, treasured experiences and memories that stayed with her.

She wrote that she had spent the morning crying and felt profoundly sad. Yet she could still revisit the many happy moments when Redford’s practical jokes made her laugh. Fonda said she felt fortunate to have appeared with him in one of his early major movies, Barefoot in the Park — the production during which she became madly infatuated with him — as well as in his final film, Our Souls at Night.

Her tribute then became even more candid. Fonda admitted she had hoped to visit him during the previous few months to confirm that everything between them was all right, but she failed to do it soon enough. The experience left her with a painful lesson: when people reach their late eighties, they should not postpone those moments.

Addressing Redford directly, she thanked her beloved Bob for all the joy he had provided throughout the years and wished him peace. Another image showed the pair resting during production of The Electric Horseman, directed by Sydney Pollack on March 1, 1979, in Utah, USA.

Fonda had spoken openly about her feelings for Redford long before this farewell. While recalling a publicity photograph from Barefoot in the Park, she described him as extraordinarily handsome and a truly wonderful person. She also acknowledged that she developed a crush on him during every movie they made together.

In a 2017 conversation with The Guardian, she was equally frank. Fonda said she had always loved Robert Redford and had completed three films with him, but nothing romantic occurred because both of them were married.

During a rare interview they gave together, she remembered first seeing him walking through an administrative building. Office secretaries rushed into the hallway simply to watch him go by. In that instant, Fonda believed he was certain to become a star, and she recalled thinking that nobody could have been more beautiful.\n\nOn September 27, 2017, Redford and Fonda joined the New York premiere celebration for Our Souls at Night, held at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. The appearance offered another glimpse of the lasting warmth between them.\n\nRedford’s admiration for her was just as clear. While they promoted Our Souls at Night, he called Fonda a force and said that quality was admirable and possessed by very few people in the way she possessed it. Fonda, meanwhile, said the movie allowed her to experience falling for him once again — at least within the story.

Redford joked that he wanted another opportunity to act with her, although he recognized that time was working against them. From Barefoot in the Park in 1967 through their last embrace at the Venice Film Festival premiere of Our Souls at Night in 2017, their closeness remained unmistakable. Their particular Hollywood chemistry seemed authentic because genuine affection stood behind it.

Fonda also spoke playfully about the Netflix movie’s romantic sequence. She said the film eventually included a love scene and that she liked the scene itself. Her single complaint was that it ended far too quickly.

Looking back at how often their characters had shared intimate scenes, she joked that she had spent plenty of time in bed with Redford and confessed that she lived for performing love scenes with him.

Speaking to Ellen DeGeneres in 2017, Fonda explained that working beside Bob presented one recurring difficulty: she would gaze into his eyes, become lost in them and forget the words she was meant to say. She felt she had matured because, throughout the three earlier movies they made, she had fallen in love with him every single time.

Their public reflections during 2017 showed that decades of friendship had not diminished the attraction, humor or admiration that shaped their work. Another memorable appearance came when the two stars attended the Our Souls at Night photocall at the 74th Venice Film Festival on September 1, 2017, in Venice, Italy.

Viewers were fortunate to witness the story between Fonda and Redford develop both in their movies and away from the cameras. Through Jane’s unguarded words, it is now clear how profoundly Bob mattered to her — and how much his life and work meant to audiences around the world.