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Jane Fonda's 3 Children: Everything to Know

Vanessa Vadim, honoree Jane Fonda, actor Troy Garity and Simone Ben attend the 2014 AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Jane Fonda at the Dolby Theatre on June 5, 2014 in Hollywood, California. Tribute show airing Saturday, June 14, 2014 at 9pm ET/PT on TNT
Vanessa Vadim, honoree Jane Fonda, actor Troy Garity and Simone Ben attend the 2014 AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Jane Fonda at the Dolby Theatre on June 5, 2014 in Hollywood, California. Tribute show airing Saturday, June 14, 2014 at 9pm ET/PT on TNT

Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Jane Fonda has had an extraordinarily full life.

She has enjoyed a long career on the big screen and as a fitness guru, and used her fame to amplify her voice as an activist. The actress also has two daughters, Vanessa and Mary Luana, and one son, Troy.

As she has gotten older, Fonda has reflected on her life and how she spent her time. "The few things I regret in my life are not the controversy and the activism," she told PEOPLE, adding "but not having put enough time into mothering, wiving, [and] taking care of the inner life."

But with age has come a more enlightened perspective, she said. "I tell my kids I'm sorry," for not being more present in their lives at times, she told PEOPLE in 2017. "I'm thankful that I've gotten better over the 80 years … I'm less judgmental. I'm forgiving. It wasn't always true. I've really worked hard to get better as a human being."

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Read on to learn about Jane Fonda's three children.

Vanessa Vadim, 54

Jane Fonda (L) and Vanessa Vadim attend the 2014 AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Jane Fonda at the Dolby Theatre on June 5, 2014 in Hollywood, California. Tribute show airing Saturday, June 14, 2014 at 9pm ET/PT on TNT
Jane Fonda (L) and Vanessa Vadim attend the 2014 AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Jane Fonda at the Dolby Theatre on June 5, 2014 in Hollywood, California. Tribute show airing Saturday, June 14, 2014 at 9pm ET/PT on TNT

Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Fonda welcomed her first child, Vanessa Vadim, with then-husband Roger Vadim on Sept. 28, 1968, in Paris, France. Fonda and the French film director separated when Vanessa was just a toddler, and she grew up with her mother in California — though she did spend summers and holidays in France. Her name, Fonda has said, is a tribute to fellow actor and activist Vanessa Redgrave.

Vanessa attended Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, from 1985 to 1989, and quickly showed that she had picked up some of her mother's interests. She protested in a pro-choice march in Washington D.C. and helped to build a school in Nicaragua.

In 1989, while in New York City to attend one of her mother's movie premieres, Vanessa was arrested for drug possession along with a friend, and reportedly claimed to have purchased the drugs as part of a school project. The arresting officers noted there was no indication that Vanessa had used any of the drugs her friend had in his possession, but Vanessa insisted they be arrested together. "Vanessa is a good daughter and a serious student of whom I am very proud, and I stand behind her through this," Fonda said at the time.

Today, Vanessa is a filmmaker who has directed projects like Jane Fonda in Five Acts. She is still an activist, standing with Fonda and many others at the U.S. Capitol in 2019 for the "Fire Drill Fridays" climate protests.

"Arrested with my sister @maryisoutside and mother in the Hart Senate Building," Vanessa captioned a photo she posted on Instagram of her sister Mary Luana being arrested by three officers.

"It wasn't easy growing up as my daughter," Fonda once told PEOPLE. "But Vanessa is an amazing woman."