Originally appeared on E! Online.
Diane Keaton’s loved ones are still reeling after her death.
Following the “Father of the Bride” star’s death at age 79 on Oct. 11, her longtime friend Carole Bayer Sager — a Grammy and Oscar-winning songwriter — detailed her last visit with Keaton, which she said occurred only “two to three weeks ago.”
“She was very thin,” Bayer recalled to People, saying she’d been surprised by Keaton’s appearance. “She had lost so much weight.”
The 81-year-old — who co-wrote Keaton’s single “First Christmas” — shared she’d seen the “First Wives Club” actress less frequently this year, as Keaton had spent more time in Palm Springs after her home had been damaged in the California wildfires.
“She was down there for a while, and when she came back,” Bayer said, “I was kind of stunned by how much weight she’d lost.”
But despite any challenges Keaton — whose cause of death has not yet been shared — may have been enduring, Bayer detailed her impact on all those around her.
“She was a magic light for everyone,” she gushed. “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.”
Bayer added, “She was completely creative; she never stopped creating.”
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And indeed, just 10 months before her death, Keaton detailed how Bayer helped her achieve a lifelong dream: releasing “First Christmas,” her debut solo.
“I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S FINALLY HERE!” Keaton wrote on Instagram in November 2024. “MY DEBUT HOLIDAY SINGLE, ‘FIRST CHRISTMAS,’ IS COMING OUT FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29TH.”
She added, “SO EXCITED TO SHARE THIS SONG WITH YOU ALL.”
It was a creative milestone Keaton had always wanted to achieve, telling Richard Crouse during a 2014 interview she’d dreamed of being a nightclub singer throughout her youth.
For Bayer, collaborating on “First Christmas” with Keaton are memories she will always hold close.
“She so loved recording this song,” she recalled. “She was almost childlike about it.”
She continued, “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.”
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