Diane Keaton explains she never married and became a mother in her 50s as part of a path she chose

11 October 2025

Diane Keaton with Duke and Dexter. Chelsea Lauren/Variety/Penske Media via Getty

In an interview that sheds light on her deeply personal life philosophy, Diane Keaton whose death at age 79 has just been confirmed opened up about why she never married despite long-term relationships with figures like Al Pacino, Warren Beatty, and Woody Allen, and how she later embraced motherhood later in life through adoption.

Keaton shared that from her teenage years onward she felt no inclination toward marriage. She recalled an early moment in high school when someone told her, “One day you’re going to make a good wife,” and she responded internally, “I don’t want to be a wife. No.” That intuition stayed with her for her entire life. She admitted that marriage never appealed to her because she sensed it’s not something she was built for, and she sees now that perhaps it would have restricted her emotional and creative life rather than enhanced it.

Over the years, she dated several prominent men in Hollywood, but she emphasized that even in those relationships she held firm to her identity and autonomy. In a 2019 conversation with People, she reflected that she was glad she never married, saying that some of her exes might be happy about it too, knowing that it would not have been a good match.

In place of marriage, Keaton created a different kind of family. In her 50s she adopted two children daughter Dexter and son Duke and became a single mother. She admitted that she did not rush into motherhood or feel a sudden urge to be a parent, but rather allowed the idea to percolate until she felt she was ready to “plunge in.” She raised them largely out of the limelight, respecting their privacy and emphasizing normalcy over celebrity.

Keaton described motherhood as one of the most humbling, demanding, and deeply fulfilling experiences of her life though she never allowed it to define her entirely. Her children stayed largely private and sometimes supported her at career milestones like her 2022 Hand & Footprint Ceremony. She acknowledged feeling occasional anxieties for example, thinking about how her body or energy would fare as her children matured and she aged but affirmed that love and presence were her guiding principles.

Throughout, Keaton’s narrative underscores a rare kind of self awareness and clarity. She resisted societal expectations that equate womanhood with marriage or children, choosing instead a route that aligned with her inner life. Her decisions were not reactive but deliberate. She once told People, “I remember thinking … I think I’m the only one in my generation and maybe before who has been a single woman all her life.”

Her story offers a message for anyone whose life does not follow a conventional script: that fulfillment need not come from roles imposed by others, and that it’s possible to build a meaningful life on one’s own terms. Diane Keaton’s life was a bridge between independence and connection, career and care, artistry and commitment and in her reflections, she leaves behind a template for living honestly and on one’s own terms.