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Even though Jane Fonda has lived a public life, not every aspect of her life was made for public consumption. In addition to her two biological children, Fonda has another daughter: Mary Williams. Fonda didn’t intentionally set up to adopt Williams, but had a chance encounter with Williams when she was a pre-teen attending a summer camp.

“When she showed up at camp … you could tell that she was a special person. And she came back for several years.  And then she didn’t come back …,” Fonda said in the interview on“Good Morning America.”

Williams grew up poor in Oakland, Calif. Her family belonged to the Black Panthers. Life in the tough neighborhood eventually took its toll, and Williams became the victim of a sexual assault when she was 14.

Fonda made her an offer.

“Her grades were failing.  I mean … this is a hugely smart person, but she was failing. I said, ‘If you bring your grades up … by the end of the year and your mother permits you, you come down and live with us in Santa Monica,’” Fonda, 75,  said.

In Williams’ new book, “The Lost Daughter“, she discusses the adjustments she had to make when she became a part of Fonda’s family.

“I literally felt like I was dying.  I really did,” she said. “And when I saw that opportunity, I ran. I ran for it.”

In a recent interview with Tavis Smiley, he  asks whether the story of how Fonda “saved” Williams could could actually turn into a “Blind Side” type of movie.

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article courtesu of Thegrio.com/clutchmagonline.com

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