Diane Keaton called her battle with bulimia in her twenties ‘the lowest point in my life’.
The actress, whose cause of death at the age of 79 has not been shared, kept her eating disorder private until writing about the four year battle in her 2011 memoir, declaring: ‘I think I’m a sister to all the rest of the women — and men as well — who have had some kind of eating disorder. I’m a part of the team.’
The eating disorder was triggered when 22-year-old Keaton was offered the lead role in the Broadway production of Hair in 1968, on the condition she lose 10lbs.
The comment may have kick started her specific fixation with her weight, but later through intense therapy sessions, Keaton realised she had been deeply dissatisfied with her physical appearance since adolescence.
As a 14-year-old, she used to sleep with hair grips on her nose, hoping to straighten out a bump, whilst her lifelong trademark look of bowler hat and oversized clothes was adopted ‘to hide my body.’
Whilst the insecurities and idiosyncrasies defined her, and made the leap across to her on screen personalities, her bulimia battle formed what she later reflected on as her darkest period.
Diane Keaton called her battle with bulimia in her twenties ‘the lowest point in my life’. The actress, whose cause of death at the age of 79 has not been shared, kept her eating disorder private until writing about the four year battle in her 2011 memoir (pictured in 2023)
The eating disorder was triggered when 22-year-old Keaton was offered the lead role in the Broadway production of Hair in 1968, on the condition she lose 10lbs (pictured in 1971)
Keaton didn’t speak out on the eating disorder until her 2011 memoir Then Again.
A joint effort with her mother Dorothy Hall, who like Keaton kept extensive journals throughout her life, the book saw both mother and daughter dissect the actress’ eating disorder.
Dorothy fretted that her daughter seemed to be constantly eating – ‘always chewing a big mouthful or sucking candy,’ pleading in her diaries ‘I wish I knew how she stays so thin.’
Keaton was matter of fact about the origins of her bulimia battle, citing her childhood insecurities and remaining adamant that there was no one to blame but herself, not even the director of Hair that demanded she lose weight.
She recalled how after losing ‘a lot of weight’ for Hair and keeping it off for a year, ‘which was my decision’, she overheard another actress talking about a woman who made herself sick in order to stay slim, and she quickly became ‘a master of hiding.’
In the throes of bulimia, Diane was at one point consuming up to 20,000 calories a day and purging herself by vomiting.
She was dating Woody Allen at the time and would make excuses to duck out of dates to dash back to her New York studio flat to binge barely imaginable quantities of food.
At her worst, she recalled that ‘a 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.’
She was dating Woody Allen at the time and would make excuses to duck out of dates to dash back to her New York studio flat to binge barely imaginable quantities of food; the pair seen in 1970 in NYC
The constant cycle of bingeing and purging caused serious health problems, including low blood pressure, heartburn and more than two dozen tooth cavities (pictured in 1974)
It was Allen who would persude her to seek help. Although he didn’t know about her eating disorder, the filmmaker was a passionate advocate for therapy and suggested Keaton talk to a p sychiatrist (pictured in 1973)
Before that she would eat a dozen muffins with three fried eggs and bacon for breakfast, with pancakes and chocolate milk, followed by three buttered steaks for lunch with baked potatoes on the side, and apple pie with two chocolate sundaes for dessert.
The constant cycle of bingeing and purging caused serious health problems, including low blood pressure, heartburn and more than two dozen tooth cavities.
It was Allen who would persude her to seek help.
Although he didn’t know about her eating disorder, the filmmaker was a passionate advocate for therapy and suggested Keaton talk to a psychiatrist. She ended up going five days a week for 18 months.
Speaking with Ellen DeGeneres years later Keaton explained how she overcame her eating disorder, revealing that one day she just realised that she did not want to binge any more.
Crediting her psychoanalysis sessions, she explained it was ‘because I talked. I spoke it out. I said my thoughts and feelings. And I feel like, once you do that, you own it.’
‘To keep secrets doesn’t help you at all.’
Her insecurities followed her too with the star musing that ‘I don’t think it gets easier as you get older’ (pictured in 2023)
Keaton admitted though that psychotherapy wasn’t a cure-all. She channelled her obsessive personality into other addictions such as clothes and collecting.
She once revealed she had ‘about 60 scrapbooks of pictures I’ve cut out of magazines: fashion, bedrooms, portraits,’ alongside a whole room dedicated to her hat collection.
She spoke openly about her addictive personality, explaining in a 2014 interview that ‘all I did was feed my hunger, so I am an addict. It’s true. I’m an addict in recovery, I’ll always be an addict. I have an addictive nature to me.’
Her insecurities followed her too with the star musing that ‘I don’t think it gets easier as you get older.’
‘I think it gets more pressing, just because it’s really about death. It’s really like approaching it, and how do you approach that part of your life? Nobody wants that.’
For help and advice, contact Beat Eating Disorders in the UK on 0808 8010677 or go to beateatingdisorders.org.uk or NationalEatingDisorders.org.for the US