[ad_1]
Hollywood actress Jane Fonda’s claims that a bleeding body was brought to Martin McGuinness’ home while he was visiting in 1976 have been described as “absolutely implausible” by veteran journalist Eamonn McCann.
McCann, who lives near the McGuinness family in Derry’s Bogside, said the idea was “so implausible that he would discard it entirely.”
“It couldn’t have happened without people knowing. Martin McGuinness’ house is in the middle of the Bogside, in a densely populated area just around the corner. The idea that it could have happened without at least the neighbors knowing is just ridiculous. ”
He said that Fonda and her then-husband, Tom Hayden, had visited members of what was then known as Provisional Sinn Féin in Dublin, including members from the North.
“I know this because I knew the people involved, and I remember cursing one of them for not alerting me in advance to Jane Fonda,” he said.
‘Smells like cordite’
“There were always people walking around Dublin visiting this and that. . . Even second-hand, the scent of cordite always attracts some American and British celebrities, but the idea that a bleeding body was brought into Martin McGuinness’s home is simply nonsense in my opinion. ”
The Oscar-winning actress (82) described in an interview on Friday’s Late Late Show on RTÉ how she, her husband and their son had spent the day with the former IRA leader and his family.
“We were looking for Gerry Adams and someone directed us to the home of Martin McGuinness and my son, Troy, was with us and he was about six years old,” Fonda said. “She was married to the late Tom Hayden, who was Irish, so we were sitting in the living room and they brought a body that was bleeding heavily.
“It was the Troubles and Tom got a little blood on his fingers and said to Troy, ‘Your ancestors, your ancestors, your people.’
Bogside ‘fiction movie’
The claim was also rejected by McGuinness’ son, Fiachra, who said on social media that Fonda was “bringing a fictional film to the Bogside” and posted a photo on Twitter of her smiling alongside her father.
“Jane Fonda tells a different story than what actually happened,” he wrote. “Here she is quite happy with my father at home.”
McGuinness, who became a leading Sinn Féin politician and deputy prime minister of the North, died in 2017.
In a 2002 interview with The Irish Times, he described how “he came home from mass one day and Jane Fonda was there.” She said that she prepared a meal for her and her husband.
“My wife [Bernadette] I was amazed but took those things in stride. . . Bernadette was pregnant at the time and sent baby clothes when [their daughter] Fionnuala was born. “
[ad_2]