“What is it with my low self-esteem?” she asked.
She admitted that despite having a career many actors would have envied, she constantly felt she should be accomplishing more.
“I’m trying to be happy with my career,” she said. “I think I should give myself a break, but I’ve got this bug that rides me. ‘You should be doing better.’”
She also described the frustration of imagining a performance one way in her head and then feeling physically unable to reproduce it exactly.
“Every time I work, I’m frustrated with my physical inability to catch up to my mental picture,” she explained.
Those comments offered a revealing contrast to the confident movie star audiences saw on screen.
To viewers, Fonda appeared successful, beautiful and established.
Privately, she seemed to be judging herself far more harshly.
Her famous surname added another layer of pressure.
Being a Fonda meant entering an industry where members of her own family had already created some of cinema’s most enduring work.
