Jane Fonda has revealed that she has been the victim of a a history of sexual abuse, beginning when she was a child. Speaking to fellow actor Brie Larson in Net-a-Porter magazine, Fonda said: “I’ve been raped, I’ve been sexually abused as a child and I’ve been fired because I wouldn’t sleep with my boss.“I always thought it was my fault; that I didn’t do or say the right thing.”

Fonda, who has starred in films such as 9 to 5 and Barbarella and more recently won acclaim for roles in Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth and the Netflix show Grace and Frankie, said that young women were prone to diminishing the severity of such crimes because they blamed themselves. “I know young girls who’ve been raped and didn’t even know it was rape,” she said. “They think, ‘It must have been because I said ‘no’ the wrong way’.”As part of her work as a women’s rights activist, Fonda is a supporter of the V-Day movement, which works to stop violence against women and girls. She said that society needs to help abuse victims “realise that [rape and abuse is] not our fault. We were violated and it’s not right”.(the guardian)…[+]