Celebrity sighting
Two years ago, I met Jane Fonda at a matinée performance of FELA on Broadway. She was dressed from head to toe in a resplendent white haute designer outfit, her hair and make-up perfect. Richard Perry, an acclaimed rock ’n’ roll producer and her new beau, was also dressed entirely in a white outfit coordinated with hers. If you didn’t know who they were, you would at least have known that they were celebrities obviously wanting to be recognized. I found myself standing on line right next to her and in spite of my view of myself as someone not interested in celebrity, I did ask, “Are you Jane Fonda?”
“I was,” she replied, which I thought was a very apt answer for an actress who has had more incarnations in this life than Shirley MacLaine claims to have had in her past lives. We chatted briefly about her exercise video, “The Jane Fonda Challenge Workout,” which I informed her I still use. She told me she is producing a new workout video for older women. I told her I was a dance teacher and I secretly hoped she would use me in her new video. She didn’t buy. What a thought! I was more star-struck than I cared to admit. She was gracious and kind to me and to the other theater-goers who gaped and asked her questions.
She looked great, well preserved. Recently, she flashed her famous smile at an interviewer and said, “See these teeth? They cost $55,000. It was teeth or a new car and I opted for the teeth.” I am sure she could afford both. However, her irreverence and humor about her efforts to fight with the toll age takes on the once young and beautiful was touching and refreshing. In recent interviews, she seemed happy. Despite the face-lifts, clothes, thinness and teeth, it appears that spiritually, at least, she is aging gracefully.
It’s very difficult to commit to aging without any attempt to slow down the surprising effect getting older has on one’s face and body. It’s easy to judge someone else if you, yourself, have not looked in the mirror and seen a face you hardly recognize. I have. My face.
That’s why I signed up for the free trial of Hydroxitone Anti-Wrinkle Complex advertised on cable TV. If it doesn’t work to make me look better within 30 days, I can send it back and I will not be charged. What have I got to lose?
If you happen to recognize me in front of the organic section in Shop-Rite from my picture in this newspaper (I will be wearing a Figures-In-Flight tee-shirt so you can’t miss me), please let me know if I seem well-preserved. In any case, I will flash my fifty-dollar smile at you because I am just glad to be alive!
