Jane Fonda recalls skinny dipping with Michael Jackson

Jane Fonda has recalled an unforgettable “moonlit night” spent skinny-dipping with the late Michael Jackson.

On Monday’s (15 May) episode of Watch What Happens Live, the acting legend appeared alongside her Book Club: The Next Chapter co-stars Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen to promote their new movie.

During the show, Fonda, 85, was chosen to play host Andy Cohen’s “Plead the Fifth” game, in which she was asked a series of questions and given the chance to dismiss – plead the fifth – only one.

After naming French director René Clément as the “one man in Hollywood that tried to pick you up once that you turned down”, Fonda quickly revealed that she had “seen Michael Jackson naked”.

“Well he came and visited me when we were shooting On Golden Pond and I had a little cottage right on the lake and it was a beautiful moonlit night,” she explained

Cohen jokingly surmised that she then “said let’s skinny dip”. “No, he did!” the 85-year-old Grace and Frankie star corrected.

“I think because he knew he was going to die young and I would talk about him, being naked,” she quipped. “He was skinny!”

Jackson famously died aged 50 in 2009 from a lethal combination of drugs.

In the new sequel to the 2018 film Book Club, Fonda, Steenburgen, Bergen and Diane Keaton take their book club to Italy to make up for a girl’s trip they never had. While there, things swiftly unravel turning their relaxing vacation into a once-in-a-lifetime cross-country adventure.

Book Club: The Next Chapter is out in cinemas now. Read The Independent’s two-star review of the movie here.

Fonda’s latest release comes on the heels of her February sports comedy 80 for Brady, in which she similarly embarks on a wild trip with three friends to see NFL football star Tom Brady play in the 2017 Super Bowl.