Diane Keaton decided to become a mother at the age of 50, adopting two children and raising them alone. She devoted herself entirely to parenting Dexter and Duke, who are now adults, 29 and 25 years old, respectively.
The iconic actress, who passed away on Saturday, October 11, never married. She chose not to share her life with a partner, but to dedicate herself to her children with all the love and energy she had.
In an interview with Ladies' Home Journal in 2008, Keaton revealed that she had reflected long before making the decision to become a mother.
“I was never going to be ready to be a mother,” she said. “Motherhood wasn’t a burning desire that I couldn’t ignore. It was more of a thought that I thought about for a long time. And then I just made the decision.”
The Godfather star often spoke openly about her choice not to marry.
"I think I'm probably the only one of my generation, maybe even those before me, who has been single all her life," she said in another interview.
Despite her high-profile relationships with names like Al Pacino, Warren Beatty and director Woody Allen, Keaton didn't see marriage as a path for herself.
“It wouldn’t have been a good idea to get married,” she said. “I never wanted to be a ‘wife.’ Ever since I was in high school, a friend of mine told me, ‘You’re going to be a good wife someday.’ And I thought, ‘I don’t want to be a wife.’ I’m glad I stayed true to myself. I’m sure they understood that.”
Although she didn't choose marriage in real life, many of her most famous roles were closely tied to motherhood. In the 1991 film Father of the Bride , she played a mother opposite Steve Martin, and in The First Wives Club (1996) she shared the screen with Bette Midler and Goldie Hawn as one of three ex-wives seeking to take their lives back into their own hands.
In an interview with Life magazine in 2005, Keaton spoke about the change that motherhood brought to her life:
"Before my children, when I worried, it was only for myself. Now, as a mother, I worry silently, without them understanding, is the number one rule of parenting."
After her death, her children have chosen to stay out of the public eye and have not made any public comments on social media, however, it was Dexter who confirmed the news of her death.
