Megyn Kelly reveals why she asked Jane Fonda ‘awkward’ plastic surgery question
Megyn Kelly asked Jane Fonda about her plastic surgery during an awkward on-air interview in 2017 because Robert Redford’s publicist wanted the broadcast journalist to change the subject from the co-stars’ love scenes, the ex-NBC star claimed on her podcast.
Redford was “visibly uncomfortable” with co-star Fonda because she “kept wanting to talk about being in bed with” him while they were promoting their new film back in 2017, according to Kelly, who interviewed the on-screen couple at the time.
Kelly revealed on her SiriusXM podcast on Wednesday that back in the fall of 2017, Redford’s representative asked her to steer the conversation away from their steamy love scenes — prompting an awkward exchange with Fonda
The that Kelly’s show hit the airwaves. Kelly was NBC’s prize acquisition after decamping from Fox News.
Redford and Fonda granted an interview to Kelly while they were promoting their Netflix romance-drama “Our Souls at Night” — the fourth time they co-starred in a major Hollywood motion picture together.
“Jane Fonda was on set [at NBC in 2017] and so was Robert Redford … and she had been doing a publicity tour with all this weird sex talk about him,” Kelly recalled during her podcast on Wednesday.
“She kept wanting to talk about being in bed with Robert Redford in the movie,” Kelly said. In the film, Redford and Fonda play a widow and a widower who begin sleeping in bed together platonically in order to alleviate their grief and loneliness.
According to Kelly, Fonda kept mentioning the love scenes with Redford in frequent promotional interviews, including the sit-down on Kelly’s NBC show.
“And you could tell he was visibly uncomfortable with it,” Kelly said of Redford.
“And during the commercial break, Robert Redford’s publicist specifically asked me if I would try to keep her off of that, if I would redirect the conversation to something else,” Kelly said.
“Sure, I will,” Kelly told Redford’s publicist.
After returning from commercial break, Kelly asked Fonda about “having work done” — which she says was a “favor for Robert Redford.”
But the segment turned into a cringewor🔯thy spectacle when Fonda appeared taken aback by the question.
“You’ve been an example to everyone in how to age beautifully and with strength and unapologetically,” Kelly told Fonda during the segment.
“You admit you’ve had work done, which I think is to your credit. But you look amazing … I read you said you felt not proud to admit you had work done. Why not?”
Fonda wore a shocked facial expression, asking Kelly: “We really want to talk about that now?”
The actress then tried to change the subject when Kelly paid her a compliment about her appearance and “how amazing you look.”
“Well, thanks,” Fonda told Kelly. “Good attitude, good posture, take care of myself.”
Fonda then pivoted: “But let me tell you why I love this movie that we did, ‘Our Souls at Night,’ rather than plastic surgery.”
Kelly on Wednesday said that Fonda’s statements about plastic surgery led her to assume that it wasn’t a sensitive topic.
“So that’s why I thought I would come back in with something she talked about a million times before, her plastic surgery,” Kelly said Wednesday.
“And it was relevant because it’s [the movie] about aging and a woman coming to terms with what that means.”
Kelly added: “So I thought it would be the non-awkward place to go. Wrong!”
In a 2017 , Fonda, who was 80 years old at the time, said she was bewildered by the timing of Kelly’s plastic surgery question.
When asked if she was “shocked” by Kelly’s question, Fonda said: “A little bit.”
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“Given the fact that we don’t have a lot of time and Bob is right here, it’s a weird thing to bring up — whether I’ve had plastic surgery or not,” Fonda told ET Canada.
“I have and I’ve talked about it. Seemed like the wrong time and place to ask that question.”
Fonda made critical statements about Kelly weeks after the on-air exchange — prompting Kelly to fire back
During the Vietnam War, Fonda, who was opposed to the US war effort, was photographed alongside North Vietnamese troops as she sat near an anti-aircraft gun tha꧃t was used to shoot at American warplanes. She has since expressed her regret for the p❀hoto.
Reps for Fonda and Redford were not🎃 imm෴ediately available for comment.
Redford’s on-screen romances have attracted renewed interest in recent weeks — particularly in light of a new book which claims that the Hollywood heartthrob didn’t want to co-star alongside Barbra Streisand in the hit 1973 romance-drama “The Way We Were.”
Robert Hofler’s recently released book, “,” chro🌜nicles the making of the romance flick.
According to the book, Redford wore two pairs of underwear to “protect himself” from the singer.
Hofler told Fox News that the famous sex scene 🍌in the film took two days to shoo𝄹t because Streisand kept insisting on doing “take after take with Redford atop her.”
