What to Know
Goldie Hawn recently got emotional when talking about Diane Keaton, whom she described as “an extraordinary human being.” Diane died of pneumonia on October 11, 2025. She was 79 years old. During a speech at The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Gala on December 3, Goldie, 80, started crying as she recalled some of the memories she has of Diane.
Goldie compared Diane to a lightning bug. “She was like a lightning bug that would light over here, and you’d try to catch it,” she said. “But you couldn’t catch Diane. She was on a journey. She never looked back.”
Goldie also recalled learning about Diane’s death.
Goldie told the audience that she learned that Diane had died when she was in her garden. “I happened to learn when I was in my backyard, and I went over to my backyard to my rose garden,” she said. “I just looked down. She can’t be gone. She just cannot be gone. No one like that should ever die. She just brought so much joy, so much life, so much exuberance. She was like lightning in a bottle.”
There was so much to say that she didn’t know what to say.
Based on how she described it, she couldn’t think of the perfect words to describe who Diane was as a person. After Diane’s death, Goldie took to social media to share a tribute. But during her speech at the recent event, she admitted that the tribute was difficult for her to write.
“She was interested in many things,” Goldie explained. “Not just acting [but] producing and directing. How do you say all of this in an Instagram [tribute?] How do you say, ‘I love you,’ in many ways? It’s like trying to explain what the taste of a tangerine tastes like.”
Though she struggled to find the perfect words, she had a lot to say in her tribute to the Annie Hall star. “Diane, we aren’t ready to lose you,” Goldie started in her Instagram post. “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.”
She also recalled working on First Wives Club alongside Diane and mentioned how they had dreamed of living together someday. “We agreed to grow old together, and one day, maybe live together with all our girlfriends,” she continued. “Well, we never got to live together, but we did grow older together. Who knows… maybe in the next life.”
