Beloved actress Diane Keaton, who starred in classic films like Annie Hall and The Godfather, had reportedly not been seen in public for six months before she died on October 11.
The actress was declining “suddenly,” but this was not known to fans or the public. A close friend has expressed surprise over how thin the actress was behind the scenes. Keaton kept that private, so many fans were caught off guard by her sudden death.
Many fans are wondering how the actress died. She was 79 years old.
Now her cause of death has been released. Keaton died of pneumonia, her family told People.
Some details are starting to come out about the circumstances of her death.
TMZ obtained dispatch audio from the Los Angeles Fire Department, which responded to Keaton's home at 8:08 a.m. on the morning of October 11.
The 911 audio shows that first responders were sent to Keaton's home with the instruction, "Rescue 19, person down."
Although Keaton is not named in that audio, both TMZ and CNN confirmed that the person taken from the home by ambulance was Keaton. It's not clear whether she died at home or at the hospital.
Fire officials told CNN that they "received a call for medical assistance on Saturday morning at Keaton’s address and paramedics transferred a person to a hospital." CNN also confirmed that the person was Keaton.
“She declined very suddenly, which was heartbreaking for everyone who loved her,” a friend of Keaton's told People. “It was so unexpected, especially for someone with such strength and spirit."
The friend told People, "In her final months, she was surrounded only by her closest family, who chose to keep things very private. Even longtime friends weren’t fully aware of what was happening.”
According to People, Keaton recently put her "dream" home up for sale, which surprised some people because she had spent so much time renovating it, although she was known to flip houses.
Carole Bayer Sager, the legendary singer/songwriter, is the friend who has spoken out about the actress's declining condition.
Bayer Sager told People that she saw Keaton a couple of weeks before her death.
"...She was very thin," Sager said. "She had lost so much weight."
She said that Keaton had spent time in Palm Springs due to the California wildfires. "She had to go to Palm Springs because her house had been damaged inside, and they had to clean everything," Sager told People. "She was down there for a while, and when she came back, I was kind of stunned by how much weight she'd lost."
Keaton is survived by her two kids, Dexter and Duke.