Jane Fonda downed "a lot of vodka" on the set of 'Barbarella'.

Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda

The 79-year-old Oscar-winning actress starred as the titular character in the 1968 cult classic movie, but when she was doing the opening striptease she was hungover after drinking the alcoholic beverage to help her nerves.

Speaking to the Metro newspaper, the actress said: "I was so nervous - because I'm kind of modest - that I drank a lot of vodka.

"But there were technical problems, so I had to do it all over again the next day. So I was not only drinking vodka again but was hungover from the day before."

The classic film follows astronaut Barbarella who lands on the frozen planet Lythion and sets out to find renowned scientist Durand Durand (Milo O'Shea).

She encounters such objects as the Excessive Machine, a genuine sex organ on which an expert artist of the keyboard can drive a victim to death by pleasure, a lesbian queen, and a group of ladies smoking a giant hookah which dispenses Essence of Man through a victim in a glass globe.

Although the film was full of now-iconic set designs and props, the 'Monster-in-Law' actress said she didn't keep any of them.

She said: "I kick myself now. I didn't understand the value of keeping stuff. I could have made a lot of money if I had."

Back in 2005, Fonda announced she was retiring from acting, but 15 years later but she missed the industry while writing her memoirs.

She said: "I left the business because I was unhappy and it was hard for me to feel creative.

"Writing my memoir and having 15 years away changed me, and I realised that I could be happy again acting.

"So I did 'Monster-in-Law' and I had such a good time I wanted to do it more.

"I'm having more fun now. The demons that used to plague me, that made it difficult for me to enjoy acting, are gone."


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