It’s no secret that Megyn Kelly and Jane Fonda don’t have the fondest feelings for one another.
The trouble between these two began four months ago, when Kelly’s new show had just debuted on NBC. One of her first interviews was with Fonda, who did not respond well to Kelly’s line of questioning about her plastic surgery, asking incredulously “We really want to talk about that now?” Asked about the awkward interview during a later appearance on Entertainment Tonight, Fonda confirmed that she was “a little bit” shocked by the question. “It was a weird thing to bring up, whether I’ve had plastic surgery or not,” she said. “I have, and I’ve talked about it, but it just seemed like the wrong time and place to raise that question.”
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Now, Megyn Kelly has publicly clapped back at Jane Fonda, devoting a segment of her show to the pair’s ongoing feud. Fonda and Kelly’s arguments resurfaced last week when Fonda appeared on Today with her Grace and Frankie co-star Lily Tomlin, and made reference to the now infamous interview with Kelly. After Tomlin made a joking reference to Fonda’s “first face lift,” Fonda responded, “Who are you, Megyn Kelly?”
In response, Kelly said during Monday’s Megyn Kelly Today that Fonda “appears to be fixated” on their exchange from months ago. “When she first complained publicly after the program — and repeatedly — I chose to say nothing, as my generally philosophy is what other people think of me is none of my business,” Kelly said. “However, Fonda was at it again last week, including here on NBC and then elsewhere, so it’s time to address the ‘poor me’ routine.”
“The truth is, most older women look nothing like Fonda, who is now 80,” Kelly said. “And if Fonda really wants to have an honest discussion about older women’s cultural face, then her plastic surgery is tough to ignore. Fonda herself knows this, and that is why — to her credit — she’s discussed her cosmetic surgery pretty much everywhere before coming on our show.
“I gave her the chance to empower other women, young and old, on a subject which she purports to know well and she rejected it. That’s okay. But I have no regrets about the question. Nor am I in the market for a lesson from Jane Fonda on what is and is not appropriate. After all, this is a woman whose name is synonymous with outrage,” Kelly continued, before bringing up Fonda’s “Hanoi Jane” controversy. “Look at her treatment of our military during the Vietnam war, many of our veterans still call her thanks to her radio broadcasts which attempted to shame American troops. She posed on an anti-aircraft gun used to shoot down our pilots.”
