Jane Fonda says being 'white and famous' provided her special treatment during 2019 arrest

Jane Fonda is opening up about the differential treatment says she received during one of her 2019 arrests because she's "white and famous."

The Oscar-winning actress chatted with "Cheers" co-stars and longtime friends Ted Danson & Woody Harrelson on their new podcast "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" about her December 2019 arrest and jailing in Washington, D.C. during a climate change march.

"We're white and we're famous and we will never really know what it's like to be Black in this country or brown," she said of being arrested and jailed.

When Danson added that "most people in this world, especially people of color, get arrested in a way different way," the human rights advocate had an on-brand reply.

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"Yet, even so, there's something very liberating about engaging in civil disobedience. It's like putting your whole body on the line where your deepest values are and you don't get many chances in life to do that," Fonda, now 86, said.

She continued: "Even though we're treated OK once we're there because they don't want to make a stink because we're white and famous, it's still, like you said, it matters and I figured, 'cause I turned 82, the fifth time I was arrested, they put me in jail."

When Danson asked about her time in D.C. jail, Fonda again explained how it was different because of her fame.

"Well again, I'm white and famous, and so they actually, there was a woman that was stationed outside, a guard, outside my cell and I thought, 'Well, that's interesting. I'm in jail' ... Why is there a guard out there?,'" Fonda told the co-hosts, adding that "it was very clear why I was being guarded."

In 2019, the activist was arrested several times for climate change protesting including with "The Good Place" alum Danson in October of that year. She has previously opened up about the Fire Drill Fridays protests, including her arrests, in her book "What Can I Do?: My Path from Climate Despair to Action."

Fonda launched the Fire Drill Fridays initiative in 2019 with environmental advocacy group Greenpeace and other environmental activism allies to protest every Friday in the streets of the nation's capital.

Those protests would culminate in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience. Many people, including celebrities, were arrested, to draw attention to the climate crisis.

Fonda also said she believed that some of her fellow inmates should be in mental health facilities instead of incarcerated in jail, pointing to a common narrative among criminal justice advocates.

"Psychotic breaks are happening and guys are screaming and screaming and banging the doors, and you realize they should be in another kind of place, like a mental health place. They shouldn't be in jail," she said.

Jane Fonda says she was 'only white person' in jail and her fellow inmates couldn't 'have cared less' who she was

The "Book Club" actress added that she "was the only white person there and then in the morning I ended up being put some place else with a lot of other prisoners, Black women," calling the experience "really interesting."

And the "Grace & Frankie" alum's fellow inmates weren't impressed by her long-ranging resume, which includes two Academy Awards — except one 2005 movie with a fellow Hollywood heavyweight.

Jane Fonda avoids fifth arrest at climate change protest in D.C.

"They (couldn't) have cared less who I was. They had far more important things to think about and none of them had seen any of my movies. … They had seen 'Monster-in-Law,'" Fonda told Danson and Harrelson. "I pulled that card and they were mildly impressed, but not really."

Contributing: Rasha Ali, Andrea Mandell

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jane Fonda says being 'white and famous' helped during arrest and jail