Diane Keaton passed away on October 11 aged 79 and 'heartbreaking' new details have emerged on her rapid decline before her tragic death. A friend of the star told People: "she declined very suddenly, which was heartbreaking for everyone who loved her". The friend went onto explain that her death was very "unexpected" and that "even longtime friends weren't fully aware of what was happening".
Diane had withdrawn from her daily walks with her dogs and in March her Los Angeles home was listed for sale. Although the cause of death has not been revealed, Diane spoke of her health issues including skin cancer and an eating disorder.
"It's a family history," she revealed to Los Angeles Times in 2015. "I remember my Auntie Martha had skin cancer so bad they removed her nose. My father had basal skin cancer, and my brother had it. It's tricky with this skin cancer. That's why you've got to put the sunblock on."
And in her memoir Then Again, Diane revealed that she had suffered from bulimia in her twenties. "I told the truth. I have nothing to hide. It's not relevant, but for me it feels good. I think I'm a sister to all the rest of the women – and I'm sure men as well – who have had some kind of eating disorder, and I'm a part of the team," she told HuffPost in 2011.
Further details on her death are not available at this time, and her loved ones have asked for privacy, according to a family spokesperson. The actress began her career in the 1960s in the original Broadway production of the musical Hair. The next year, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in Woody Allen's comic play Play It Again, Sam.
Diane went on to frequently collaborate with the director, including Sleeper (1973) and Love and Death (1975) while 1977's Annie Hall (1977) saw her win the Academy Award for Best Actress. It was speculated that the film was based on their real life, but she told The New York Times in 1977: "It's not true, but there are elements of truth in it."
Diane's first major film role was as Kay Adams-Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972), and she went on to reprise it in the sequels Part II (1974) and Part III (1990). "I think the kindest thing that someone's ever done for me ... is that I got cast to be in The Godfather and I didn't even read it. I didn't know a single thing," she told People in 2022 of not reading the book beforehand. "I just was going around auditioning. I think that was amazing for me." In recent years she appeared alongside Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen in Book Club, and the 2023 sequel.
Many celebrities spoke of their sadness in losing such a great actress including Reese Witherspoon, Bette Midler and Steve Martin. Longtime friend Goldie Hawn posted a lengthy celebration of Diane's life, writing: "Diane, we aren’t ready to lose you. You've left us with a trail of fairy dust, filled with particles of light and memories beyond imagination. How do we say goodbye? What words can come to mind when your heart is broken? You never liked praise, so humble, but now you can’t tell me to "shut up" honey. There was, and will be, no one like you."
"We agreed to grow old together, and one day, maybe live together with all our girlfriends. Well, we never got to live together, but we did grow older together. Who knows… maybe in the next life," added Goldie, who appeared in First Wives Club with Diane. "Shine your fairy dust up there, girlfriend. I’m going to miss the hell out of you."