Jane Fonda Goes ROGUE: Actress Shamelessly Ditches Billionaire After He Paid Big Bucks & Denounces Event Sponsor In Climate Change Speech
Feb. 17 2023, Published 3:00 p.m. ET
A billionaire pulled out the stops to make Jane Fonda his date for Vienna's glamorous opera ball, but RadarOnline.com has learned the Grace & Frankie actress decided to tear up the itinerary upon her arrival, making her own plans for the start of her trip.
Austrian businessman and shopping mall magnate Richard "Mörtel" Lugner has paid a celebrity to be his plus-one on an annual basis, previously offering invites to Grace Jones, Goldie Hawn, Pamela Anderson, Ivana Trump, and Kim Kardashian.
This time, he secured Fonda as his date but may have got more than he bargained for with the deal. Lugner gave the award-winning starlet a warm welcome when she got to the capitol on Monday.
She was greeted with a bouquet, a photo op, and a stretch limo with her name on it.
However, Fonda opted to kick off her Vienna excursion by refusing the limo and taking his private car instead, according to the Irish Times.
For the next two days, Fonda enjoyed sightseeing hot travel spots, making solo stops at famous museums and galleries.
A joint press conference brought the building tycoon and Monster-in-Law star face-to-face on Wednesday.
"I support a lot of people," she said about accepting the offer, revealing he paid her quite a bit of money without disclosing exactly how much.
"Until yesterday, I thought I was going to the opera with this man, now I've learned that it's a popular ball," she shared. When asked if she will save a dance for Lugner, Fonda replied, "I have an artificial shoulder and hip replacement, I might fall apart."
The climate change activist also used the conference as an opportunity to speak her mind, revealing she was "sorry" to learn Austrian oil and gas company OMV sponsored the Vienna Opera Ball.
"These fossil fuel companies are criminal, they are killing people and killing the planet," she continued.
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She then urged people to "do everything we can to prevent the climate crisis becoming an out-of-control catastrophe."
"I engage in civil disobedience, I get arrested just like people gluing themselves to the street, more people pay attention and, little by little, people start doing something."