Vanessa Vadim,55, is the daughter of Jane Fonda from her first marriage to Roger Vadim. Vanessa has worked as a writer, producer, director, and editor in several short films and documentaries like The Last Party, Blue is Beautiful, and a documentary about her mom titled Jane Fonda in Five Acts.
Besides working behind the camera, Jane Fonda’s daughter is an outspoken environmental activist and a columnist for Mother Nature Network. She also describes herself as an organic farmer.
Who is Vanessa Vadim?
Vanessa Vadim was born on September 28, 1968, in Paris, France to her parents Jane Fonda and Roger Vadim.
Vadim attended Brown University which famous actors like Thesy Surface also attended. After that, she enrolled at New York University for her master’s program in English and Creative Writing and another one in a master of Fine Arts in Film and Television.
Her parents were only married from 1965 to 1973 hence Vanessa does not have biological siblings.
However, she has half-siblings from her parents’ other marriages. Through her father, she has three half-siblings; Nathalie, Christian, and Vania Vadim. On her mother’s side, her siblings are Troy Garity, Ariane, and David Toscan Du Plantier. She is also related to the Hollywood actors Henry Fonda, Peter Fonda, and Bridget Fonda.
Even though her parents were divorced, they still remained friends and shared custody of her.
Is Jane Fonda’s Daughter also an Actress?
Vanessa is not an actress like her mother but has worked behind the cameras. After she graduated from NYU, she co-founds a non-profit documentary production company, MayDay Media.
She has worked as a writer, producer, director, and editor in several short films and documentaries. Some of them include The Last Party, Blue is Beautiful, and The Quilts of Gees Bend. She also produced a documentary about her mother, Jane Fonda in Five Acts.
The daughter of the Grace and Frankie actress is also an outspoken environmental activist. According to reports, Vanessa once revealed her mother and her two children were arrested for participating in public demonstrations.
Together with her mother and children, Vanessa works to fight the effects of climate change. The writer herself was also reportedly arrested in 1989 while she was a college student but in a different scenario. She was arrested for alleged involvement in banned substances carried by a friend in Manhattan.
The charges against her were later dropped after the police did not find any evidence of her involvement.
Vanessa Vadim was Formerly Married to Paul Van Winkle
Vanessa married Paul Van Winkle in 2010 in St. Tropez at her stepmother Catherine’s home. Her mother revealed in her blog that Catherine is like a second mother to Vanessa.
It is obvious that the marriage only lasted for less than a decade as it was reported that the pair were divorced by 2017. This was confirmed after Venessa described herself as a single mother during an interview with the Daily Beast.
Although she and her ex-husband did not have children, she has two children, a son, Malcolm, and a daughter, Viva from two previous relationships.
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Vanessa Vadim’s Relationship with Her Mother
The 55-year-old writer and documentary filmmaker initially has a strained relationship with her mother. Reports say when Jane Fonda gave birth to Vanessa, she struggled to embrace her role as a mother rather, she entrusted her daughter to her then-husband, Roger, and also an English Nanny, Dot.
Apparently, she suffered from post-partum depression adding that there was a time she cried for about a month blaming herself for failing at everything.
The American actress has revealed several times that she regretted not being with her daughter while she was a baby. She even went further to blame it on the fact that she was raised by a governess after her mother committed suicide.
Thankfully, their relationship got better after Vanessa had her first child and Jane took parenting classes.
