There was a point in time when Bridget Fonda was a distinguished face within the showbiz-sphere of Hollywood.
One needs only go back to the ’80s and ’90s to find a period when the actress was regularly being cast in big productions. The world, it seemed, was at her feet, and she had the potential to become a household name in the vein of her famous father, Peter Fonda, and his father, Henry Fonda, before him.
Having made her breakthrough in the 21 Jump Street TV series (1989), she went on to appear in a handful of films before featuring in The Godfather Part III. Fonda would later land roles in such hits as Point Of No Return (1993), Jackie Brown (1997), and Lake Placid (1999).
Yet her burgeoning career abruptly came to a grinding halt in 2002 when the actress, then in her 30s, decided to take a step back from the limelight and leave the glitz and glam of Hollywood behind.
At the time, rumors regarding the reasoning behind her shock exit – after all, she’d appeared in one film a year for more than a decade – were abound.
The general consensus was that she wanted to focus more on her family with partner Danny Elfman – the pair married in 2003, one year after Fonda stopped making movies – but irrespective of the motive behind her departure from the entertainment industry, the now-59-year-old has no plans to return to her former profession.
According to reports, Bridget was recently spotted out in public with son Oliver on Monday, April 17 at Los Angeles International Airport.
There, the former actress was approached by a photographer who asked her on the spot if she was at all interested in making a return to the scene she suddenly left behind all those years ago.
“No,” Fonda said simply.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the paparazzi in question wasn’t prepared to leave the matter at that though, and pressed the Kiss of the Dragon star as to whether she could ever envisage making movies again.
This time, Fonda replied: “I don’t think [I’ll come back], it’s too nice being a civilian.”
Of course, there’s good reason to brand Fonda’s potential return as a ‘never say never’ sort of possibility. Acting is so much the Fonda family business that it likely runs in the blood at this point, and fans can be rest assured that if the 59-year-old ever gets the feeling that she wants to dip a toe back into the pool, there will more than likely be offers waiting.
Fonda, who made her on-screen debut aged four years old with an uncredited role in her father’s classic film Easy Rider, may well stick to her guns and content herself with a life well lived away from the searing spotlight of Hollywood.
Then again, she might decide to return to acting one day as suddenly as she disappeared from it, and I think I speak for more than a few people when I say I’d be fine with that.
Have you ever seen any of Bridget Fonda’s films? Are you a fan of the Fonda family’s work in general?
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