No more “Barbarella” screenings on TBS? No “Klute” tributes on TNT?
The mind boggles with the potential fallout of today’s bombshell announcement: Cable mogul Ted Turner and movie-star wife Jane Fonda are separating after nine years of power-couple happiness.
In a brief statement issued (where else?) via Turner‘s CNN, the two said: “While we continue to be committed to the long-term success of our marriage, we find ourselves at a juncture where we must each take some personal time for ourselves.”
“Therefore, we have mutually decided to spend some time apart.”
Apparently to show that, despite such dire circumstances, they haven’t lost their collective sense of humor, the couple added: “We ask that you respect that decision.”
The media have been respecting Turner and Fonda for more than a year, running with story after story about their reputed marital discord. The most oft recalled tab story had Turner trading in the sixtysomething Fonda for a fiftysomething model in the form of Bo Derek. (The reports were denied.)
Fonda and Turner wed Dec. 21, 1991 — the bride’s 54th birthday. She gave up her (arguably waning) Hollywood career to move to her new husband’s base of operations in Atlanta. Aside from various fat-burning and body-shaping workout videos (which she continues to produce with disturbing regularity), the two-time Oscar winner was last seen on the big screen in the 1990 illiteracy drama “Stanley & Iris” with Robert De Niro.
Turner is Fonda‘s third husband — her previous two unions, to “Barbarella” director Roger Vadim and former radical Tom Hayden, both ended in divorce. Turner, 61, is also a two-time loser in marriage.
