“When I first saw the script, I didn’t know why the mother was so bad,” Fonda told reporters, “so I had to come up with a story for her.” Referring to Viola’s multiple on-screen tantrums and flair for drama, she added: “I learned some of Ted’s over-the-top behavior.”
She further explained to LiveAbout: “He’s the only person I know who’s had to apologize more than me. He’s absolutely ridiculous and he’s outrageous and he lacks any self-censorship. And at the same time, he’s extremely lovely and I’ve never known anyone like him. So when I got the opportunity to play Viola, it was like I had permission to be over-the-top because I knew what that could sound like.”
“I don’t want to say that because it’s called Monster-in-law that he’s a monster,” she continued. “I’m crazy about this man. I absolutely adore him and we are close friends.”
She and Turner remained friends, although, according to Fonda’s 2005 memoir, My life so farTurner was a serial cheater. However, “it was really difficult to leave: I was 62 years old and I no longer had a career,” Fonda remembers. The New Yorker in 2018. “I didn’t need to work, I was taken care of. And yet, I knew that if I stayed, I was never going to become who I was supposed to be, as a whole person, as a truly authentic person. And I tried to explain to him, but he doesn’t really understand.”
