Today on Jane Fonda’s 80th birthday, we will never forget her involvement in the Vietnam War. Here is the famous photo of Fonda with the enemy when she visited Hanoi. From that visit she earned the nickname Hanoi Jane.

The actress tried to explain the events that led her to the photo being taken, and this is what she had to say:

“Here is my best, honest recollection of what happened: someone (I don’t remember who) led me towards the gun, and I sat down, still laughing, still applauding. It all had nothing to do with where I was sitting. I hardly even thought about where I was sitting. The cameras flashed. I got up, and as I started to walk back to the car with the translator, the implication of what had just happened hit me. “Oh my God. It’s going to look like I was trying to shoot down U.S. planes.” I pleaded with him, “You have to be sure those photographs are not published. Please, you can’t let them be published.” I was assured it would be taken care of. I didn’t know what else to do. (I didn’t know yet that among the photographers there were some Japanese.)”

As much as you might like her for her movies, this is something as Americans we absolutely cannot forget that she did. We are definitely not Fonda Jane.