To save grandchildren

Jane Fonda pushed bears out of her house

Jane Fonda once saved her grandson from a bear that had invaded her house.(Bild: AP/AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Even wild animals shy away from a Jane Fonda with a grandmotherly protective streak. The Hollywood legend's son has now revealed an anecdote that was previously only known within the family. According to Troy O'Donovan Garity, Grandma Jane pushed a bear out of her little grandson Malcolm's nursery with her own hands.

Garity and Fonda were interviewed together for Netflix's "Skip Intro" podcast. The 57-year-old reported that his mother had looked after her now 25-year-old grandson when he was still a baby: "Then she heard a noise in the middle of the night. She got up to see what was wrong."

"Opened my bathrobe"
Fonda discovered that the fly screen on the back door had been ripped out. "She ran back and saw a bear sniffing Malcolm's crib in the nursery."

Fonda took over the story from there and demonstrated what she did next: "I put my hands in the air to make myself bigger and yelled loudly. I had just learned what to do when you're near a bear."

The 87-year-old then joked: "Not only did I make myself bigger, I also opened my bathrobe."

Pushed out of the door
The bear then actually left the room - but only after leaving a parting gift: he urinated on the carpet. Fonda: "Then he ran back to the back door and sat down right in front of it. I then pushed him outside!"