Diane Keaton's friend, Carole Bayer Sager, shares insights into the final weeks leading up to her passing.
Following her passing, Diane Keaton's loved ones are still in shock. Her longtime friend Carole Bayer Sager, a Grammy and Oscar-winning musician, described her final visit with Diane, which she said took place just "two to three weeks ago," after the Father of the Bride passed away on October 11 at the age of 79.
“She was very thin," Carole recounted to People that Diane's entrance had taken her by surprise. "She had lost so much weight."
As Diane spent more time in Palm Springs following the destruction to her home caused by the California wildfires, the 81-year-old co-writer of Diane's hit "First Christmas" revealed that she had seen the First Wives Club star less often this year.
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“She was down there for a while, and when she came back,” Carole stated, “I was kind of stunned by how much weight she'd lost."
Carole described Diane's influence on everyone around her, notwithstanding any difficulties she may have faced—her reason of death has not yet been disclosed.
“She was a magic light for everyone,” she exclaimed. “I just loved her. She was so special, she just lit up a room with her energy. She was happy and upbeat and taking photographs of everything she saw.”
Carole went on, “She was completely creative; she never stopped creating."
Indeed, ten months prior to her passing, Diane described how Carole enabled her to fulfill a lifetime ambition: the release of her first solo, "First Christmas."
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S FINALLY HERE!" in November 2024, Diane posted something on Instagram. "MY DEBUT HOLIDAY SINGLE, ‘FIRST CHRISTMAS,' IS COMING OUT FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29TH."
She went on, "SO EXCITED TO SHARE THIS SONG WITH YOU ALL."
In a 2014 interview, Diane told Richard Crouse that she had always aspired to be a nightclub singer and that it was a creative milestone she had always wanted to reach.
Carole will always cherish her memories of working with Diane on "First Christmas."
"She so loved recording this song," she remembered. "She was almost childlike about it."
She went on, "She was so authentic when she sang it, I mean, she just sang it like she was singing it, and she was sort of acting it, you know, because she is a great actress. And then she'd start to cry when she was singing it. But she did such a beautiful job."
