Diane Keaton Ditched Dating & Marriage To Adopt As A Single Mom In Her 50s

Sep 16, 2022

Actress Diane Keaton has been working in Hollywood since 1966. She has achieved many accolades since then, including an Academy Award, British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award. While she is a celebrated performer, Keaton has chosen a less traditional family life for herself, despite having had several successful relationships in the past. 

She began her career in entertainment, performing on Broadway. In 1969 she received a Tony Award for her performance in "Play it Again, Sam," when she was linked to Woody Allen. Transitioning mainly to film, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1977 for her role in Allen's movie "Annie Hall." One of her other best-known films is "The Godfather," where she played Kay Adams-Corleone in. It was there in 1972 that she developed a crush on her co-star Al Pacino. The pair got together after filming the sequel "The Godfather II" and broke up sometime after the third film was released. 

In her personal life, Keaton has long since stopped dating, has foregone marriage and has instead chosen to adopt two children, saying that motherhood is one of the most rewarding things she's ever done. She spoke with People in August 2022 about how the twenty-somethings have changed her life. 

Previously, the actress had opened up about her dating life during an InStyle interview. She said while she has several male friends, men never ask her out. "I have a lot of friends, but no dates. No mwah-mwah," she admitted. 

This was not the first time Keaton spoke about relationships. The 76-year-old once told People, "I don't think it would have been a good idea for me to have married, and I'm really glad I didn't." The actress admitted, "I haven't been on a date in, I would say, 35 years. No dates."

While she may not have found a suitable partner, she still has a family. Keaton adopted her daughter Dexter in 1996 and her son Duke in 2001. The actress has often spoken in interviews about how having children changed her life. In speaking with Film Monthly, she said, "Motherhood has completely changed me. It's just about like the most completely humbling experience that I've ever had. I think that it puts you in your place because it really forces you to address the issues that you claim to believe in and if you can't stand up to those principles when you're raising a child, forget it."

Keaton admitted that, prior to adopting, she was "such a horribly demanding person, expecting men to constantly think that I'm engaging or all of those things that are just deadly for a relationship." She continued, touching on how her children seemed to mellow her out, saying, "So my feeling is that with children, you really have to be your best self, always, and be honest." Keaton was clearly able to pull away from any selfish tendencies and devote the time and energy required to raising children. She spoke on how transformative motherhood has been and continues to be, saying, "I think that children are completely challenging and completely intoxicating."

She continued, "I'm completely in love with my kids, but I also realize that I have to try and be a better person everyday. I have to wake up and say, 'Okay, use your brain, and not your impulses,' because all my life, I've used my impulses and not my brains, a lot." She added that raising Dexter and Duke has, of course, at times been challenging "in the sense that you have to really be careful about how you give your love, what you expect in return, and your own selfishness."

While Keaton has mentioned her father's passing as part of what caused her to question her purpose in life and ultimately motivated her to adopt, she also said that she wasn't entirely drawn to motherhood. She told Access Online in 2008, "It was more like a thought I'd been thinking for a very long time ... So I plunged in."

The decision was clearly the right one, as Keaton has since raised both kids into lovely adults. Keaton somewhat shields her little family from the prying eyes of the public, an insider shared that she "has always been very private about her kids, even now that they're older, but she's so proud of them." When her daughter, Dexter, got married and Keaton had the opportunity to walk her down the aisle, she commented that the moment was one of her "lifetime highs." 

Both children accompanied Keaton to her Hand and Foot Ceremony at Hollywood's TCL Chinese Theater. When asked what it meant to have them there, Keaton responded that it meant "everything." 

Would you ever adopt kids as a single parent? Let us know — and be sure to pass this article on to friends, family, and any fellow "The Godfather" fans!