What Diane Keaton Shared About Her Health Before Death

News Moderator - Tomas KauerOctober 12, 20252 Mins read666 Views

Content warning: This story discusses eating disorders.

Diane Keaton maintained a mostly private life before her passing.

While the Something’s Gotta Give actress—who died in California at age 79, according to a family rep—didn’t publicly disclose any major health issues in her final months, she had previously been open about how she struggled with cancer and bulimia throughout her life.

In fact, her signature hats were about more than just fashion—she took her sun protection seriously after being diagnosed with skin cancer at age 21.

“It’s a family history,” she told the 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.”

But Keaton—whose cause of death has not been shared—didn’t start taking care of her skin until later in life.

“Back in my 20s I didn’t pay attention much,” she admitted. “I didn’t research and didn’t really care and that was stupid because it’s dogged me my entire adult life, even recently. I didn’t start sun care until my 40s.”

Still, after battling basal cell carcinoma in her 20s, she was diagnosed with squamous cell cancer decades later, which took two surgeries to remove, per the Times.

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And aside from her cancer battle, Keaton has been open about another health challenge she faced in her life: bulimia.

She said she became self-conscious about her body after being asked to lose 10 pounds for a part on Broadway when she was younger.

“All I did was feed my hunger, so I am an addict,” she explained to Dr. Oz in 2014. “It’s true. I’m an addict in recovery, I’ll always be an addict. I have an addictive nature to me.”

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The Family Stone star would eat 20,000 calories a day, only to throw up, saying, “Typical dinner was a bucket of chicken, several orders of fries with blue cheese and ketchup, a couple TV dinners, a quart of soda, pounds of candy, a whole cake and three banana cream pies.”

Keaton eventually got into recovery for her eating disorder.

“Somebody mentioned that I seemed to have some mental issues, so I went to an analyst,” she said. “I would go five days a week.”

And while she admitted to initially lying to her specialist, Keaton—who adopted daughter Dexter, 29, and son Duke, 25, in her 50s—went on to get candid about her struggles.

“I have nothing to hide. It’s not relevant, but for me it feels good,” she wrote in her 2011 book Then Again, per the NY Daily News. “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.”

See more of her life in photos.

If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Eating Disorders Association helpline at 1-800-931-2237.

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