Diane Keaton Was ‘The Worst’ at This, Her Friends Were Scared

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Diane Keaton was renowned for her many talents, but driving apparently was not one of them—at least according to some of her friends. “The worst driver,” actor Jeff Garlin said during an October 2026 appearance on the “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” podcast. Garlin recalled spending Thanksgiving with Keaton and his family in Palm Springs, describing her driving as something straight out of Annie Hall, the classic 1977 film starring Keaton and Woody Allen. “It was insane,” he said.

Although Garlin was quietly worried for his safety, he also believed Keaton had her own unusual system behind the wheel. “I was grabbing onto the seat, and I just laughed even though I was scared s**tless,” he recalled. Keaton herself understood what often distracted her—and insisted it was not a lack of driving ability. “What I like to do is look, so I can get in trouble with that, when I’m not watching the road,” she told The Guardian in 2023.

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Keaton said her tendency to look around while driving went back to childhood. “I remember Mom used to tell me: ‘Diane, don’t do that. God, be careful. Look ahead. Don’t start looking around when you’re driving,’” she recalled. Yet in her loved ones’ eyes, even Keaton’s questionable driving had its competition. In her 2011 memoir, Then Again, she described teaching her former partner Al Pacino to drive. “He kept his foot on the gas pedal no matter how many times I told him to press the brake if he wanted to stop,” she wrote (via The Christian Science Monitor). “This made for a lot of laughs but a very uncertain ride.” Ultimately, Keaton’s driving record seemed to depend on one’s perspective.

The late Diane Keaton may not have been the most reliable driver, but she never lost her enthusiasm for being on the road. Her distracted driving was perhaps inevitable because it brought together two of her favorite pastimes: driving and observing. “I love exploring California. I like driving to Arizona. I really enjoy seeing. I guess my favorite thing in life is the fact that I can see,” she told Interview in 2021.

During her 2023 conversation with The Guardian, Keaton explained that her drives had helped her create a personal visual record of Los Angeles. “I’m sort of addicted to getting in my car and driving through the streets of LA,” she said. “Which most people don’t do any more. And then getting out and photographing these stores and buildings that have been just decimated. They’re no longer there!” For Keaton, driving was more than transportation—it was a meditative ritual that helped her clear her mind while taking in the changing world around her.

She even called driving her favorite activity overall. “I love it. It’s time to think, and you’re seeing the landscape, and it’s beautiful,” Keaton said on The Oprah Winfrey Show (via Oprah Daily). Her passion extended to the cars themselves, and over the years she owned several impressive vehicles. Her favorite, however, was a Land Rover Defender. “It’s beautiful. It’s big, and I’m safe, and I’m up high, and I can see everything great,” she said.