Diane Keaton On Why She’s Glad She Never Married: 'I’m an Oddball'
Diane Keaton is many things (an Oscar-winning actress, an author, a mother), but she never wanted to be a wife. Why? She doesn’t think she’s built for it.
“I think that I’m strange,” Keaton–who’s now starring in her 58th film, Poms–-says in a wide-ranging interview for this week’s issue of PEOPLE. She talks about her two children, daughter Dexter, 23, and son Duke, 18; the importance of being kind to animals and insects; and what she’s learned so far.
“I don’t know anything, and I haven’t learned,” she insists. “Getting older hasn’t made me wiser.”
While Keaton doesn’t claim wisdom, she’s comfortable with herself and shares details about her life with self-deprecating humor.
“Today I was thinking about this,” she says, when reflecting on marriage. “I’m 73 and I think I’m the only one in my generation and maybe before who has been a single woman all her life.”
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Keaton–who dated Woody Allen, Warren Beatty, and Al Pacino, among others–isn’t saddened by her single status.
“[I’m not sad] because I think that I needed more of a maternal aspect,” she says. “I don’t think it would have been a good idea for me to have married, and I’m really glad I didn’t, and I’m sure they’re happy about it, too.”
The actress insists that there’s “something missing in me,” she says. Keaton thinks she’s lacking the “nurturing” quality a husband would require.
“I’m an odd ball,” she says.
“I remember one day in high school, this guy came up to me and said, ‘One day you’re going to make a good wife.'” Keaton explains. “And I thought, ‘I don’t want to be a wife. No.'”
Reflecting on her past loves, Keaton says she shouldn’t have gone for famous actors.
“When I was young, I was looking to be loved by these extraordinary people,” says Keaton. “I think I should not have been so seduced by talent. When you’re both doing the same job, it’s not so great. I should have found just a nice human being, kind of a family guy.”
For the full Keaton interview, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on stands Friday.
But her costars sure knew how to kiss, she admits.
“I have kissed some great guys in film,” Keaton says. “They have to pretend they like you! I loved kissing Andy Garcia [in 2018’s Book Club]. There might be a [Book Club sequel] but maybe Andy will say, ‘Can you give me one of the other women to kiss?”
