One of the most recognisable women of our time, Jane Fonda -- actress, activist, feminist, workout guru, entrepreneur, and philanthropist -- is coming to Oxford on June 1 to talk about her fascinating life.

Her visit to the Sheldonian corresponds with the publishing of My Life So Far which examines her life in an extraordinarily candid autobiography.

The Hollywood legend spent five years writing the book and what emerges is a full portrait that transcends the many labels that have been used to define Jane Fonda.

So why write it now? "I decided to fully embrace my upcoming 60th birthday by exploring what my life had been about and doing this changed me in ways I would never have foreseen," she says.

"Coming to see my various individual struggles within a broader social context enabled me to understand that much of my journey was a universal one for women -- played out in different ways and with different outcomes perhaps, but with common core experiences. This is what liberated me to write this book.

"I also realised that it was time to talk about my personal experiences during the last five years of the Vietnam War. I want to do this partly to set the record straight but mostly because of what my experiences during those years taught me -- about myself, about courage, about redemption.

"I hope that other women might see something of their own experiences in what I have to say about how a girl can lose touch with herself, her body, and have to struggle -- hard -- to get herself, her voice, back."

Born to the acting legend Henry Fonda and socialite Frances Seymour, Jane had a childhood marked by profound sadness. Her mother, who suffered from mental illness, committed suicide when Jane was 12. Told by her family that her mother had died of a heart attack, Jane later learned the truth when she read it in a movie magazine.

"I have dedicated this book to my mother," she says. "For me, this is a big deal -- a way for me to begin to restore my own balance. You see, I have spent most of my life feeling like an Immaculate Conception in reverse: born of a man, without aid of a woman. For reasons you will come to understand, I have spent far too much energy obliterating all in my life that represented my mother. This has taken a profound toll. Dedicating this book to her marks another turning point in my attempt to live a full, conscious life."

Jane's relationship with her father, who was emotionally distant, frequently away from home while making movies, and prone to "cold, shut-you-down, hard-to-come-back-from Protestant rages" would cast a long shadow over her subsequent relationships with men.

Always candid, Fonda will talk, as she wrote, about the bulimia she suffered over decades: "Being around food, sitting down at the table for a meal, would cause me terrible anxiety. . . . I went through what should have been my most beautiful, sensual, fun-loving years in a cocoon, hiding within my numbness. I reserved what intimacy I had for the scruffy floors of the dorm john and, later, the elegant tiles of the bathrooms in Beverly Hills' best restaurants; I became expert at throwing up everything I'd eaten and returning to the table all cheery and fixed up. I stopped my food addictions in my 40s, but it was not until my third act (my 60s!) that I began to accept myself, imperfections and all."

She may also discuss studying acting with Lee Strasberg, working on Broadway and making such movies as Klute, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Coming Home and On Golden Pond; and the Jane Fonda Workout video phenomenon.

Or she could compare the men she married, French director Roger Vadim, activist Tom Hayden, business entrepreneur Ted Turner, and of the many actors and actresses she's worked with.

Fonda will also discuss her involvement with the anti-Vietnam War movements, activities that led the FBI to keep her under surveillance from 1970 to 1973, as the government would later admit.

Jane Fonda's final act is still a work in progress. She now devotes her time to activism and philanthropy and, mindful of the legacy of her own upbringing and her experiences as a mother, she focuses on issues related to good parenting. "I have seen how being a good mother is a transforming, empowering experience for a young woman--and how it gives her child a protective resiliency. I'm proof that you teach what you need to learn," she says.

Fonda, who lives in Atlanta, has also, after a 15 year "retirement," returned to acting in the soon-to-be released film, Monster-in-Law.

Jane Fonda will be in conversation with BBC2 Late Review presenter Mark Lawson at the Sheldonian Theatre. For ticket information go to www.borders.co.uk or telephone 01865 203901.