She’s not backing down! Megyn Kelly’s infamous exchange with Jane Fonda on Megyn Kelly Today in September 2017 might have occurred a little over a year ago, but the morning show host’s feelings on the matter haven’t dulled one bit.
In an exclusive sit down with Us Weekly, Kelly, 47, shared that she had just one regret from her first year of helming Today’s third hour. “I certainly wish I hadn’t put on Jane Fonda,” she said with a laugh. “That didn’t go well!”
Despite Fonda’s displeasure with the NBC personality questioning her about plastic surgery, Kelly swears she wouldn’t have done anything differently. “She answered that question in about 40 different forums,” she insists. “It was nothing wrong with me. And she’s answered it in 40 more forums since!”
Instead, Kelly believes Fonda’s larger issue had to do with the host’s career past as host of Fox News’ The Kelly File. “I think the issue was somebody who used to work at Fox News was asking it of her that particular day,” she explains. “There’s nothing I can do about that. I know some people don’t like Fox News, and some people don’t like me and that’s OK.”
Fonda’s poor impression of Kelly was evident when the Barbarella actress addressed the exchange in subsequent interviews. Kelly asserts to Us: “I let her beat up on me repeatedly. She went out there and ripped on me. It’s fine. You have to take your licks as a reporter, as an anchor. And she did it again, and she did it again, and she did it again and I didn’t say anything.”
The Grace and Frankie star returned to the Today show in January for a chat with Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie. When Lily Tomlin made a crack about Fonda’s “first face-lift,” Fonda shot back, “Who are you? Megyn Kelly!?” The former Fox News host addressed the diss days later during her show, invoking the “Hanoi Jane” nickname tacked to the actress after her 1972 protest.
Though a report surfaced after the exchange alleging publicists were hesitant to bring stars to Kelly’s hour of Today, she insists there was a more pressing issue at play. “My feeling on that one was, not everything is about getting a rating or getting another guest booking,” Kelly says. “Some things are about standing up for yourself. And in the case of Fonda, I let her beat up on me repeatedly.”
For more of Kelly’s thoughts on her first year of hosting Megyn Kelly Today, coverage of the Matt Lauer scandal, and insight on her life at home as mom to three kids, pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands now.
