As a child, Jane both adored and feared her father (with her and Peter in '40). Photo by: photofest
Jane Fonda Tells All| Jane Fonda
Raised in L.A., Jane was the first child of actor Henry Fonda and his troubled second wife, Frances Brokaw. Though he had an explosive temper, she writes, Dad liked me, especially in the earliest years. . . . I had the Fonda look, and I was a tomboy.

Jane sensed the tension between her parents before she learned they were splitting. Frances, who had suffered from both physical and mental illnesses, broke the news. I was lying on Mother's bed with her and she asked if I wanted to see her scar from her recent kidney operation. I didn't really want to. But since she'd asked, I felt she needed to show it to me and that I shouldn't say no. She pulled up her satin pajama top and lowered the pants and there . . . oh, horror – that's why they were getting divorced! Who would want to live with someone who'd been cut in half and had a thick, wide pink scar that ran all around her waist?

"And look at this," she said, showing me one of her breasts. The nipple was all distorted. I felt so bad for her – it must have hurt so much – but I also didn't want to be her daughter. . . . I wanted a mother who looked healthy and beautiful, at whom a father would want to look when she had no clothes on.