Al Pacino Opens Up After Diane Keaton’s Death: “I’ll Forever Regret Not Marrying the Love of My Life” and the Chance That Slipped Away After Nearly Two Decades Together

Al Paci­no Opens Up After Diane Keaton’s Death: “I’ll For­ev­er Regret Not Mar­ry­ing the Love of My Life” and the Chance That Slipped Away After Near­ly Two Decades Togeth­er

Al Paci­no report­ed­ly regrets not mar­ry­ing Diane Keaton after their on-again, off-again rela­tion­ship that spanned near­ly two decades.

Keaton — who died Sat­ur­day in Cal­i­for­nia at age 79 — played Pacino’s girl­friend in “The God­fa­ther” tril­o­gy, and they start­ed dat­ing in 1974. They called it quits in 1990, after Keaton gave him an ulti­ma­tum and he refused to com­mit to mar­riage.

Paci­no, 85, now wish­es he had tied the knot with the late actress, a source told the Dai­ly Mail in an arti­cle pub­lished Sun­day.

Al Paci­no regrets nev­er mar­ry­ing Diane Keaton after the two dat­ed on and off for near­ly 20 years, a friend of the actor told the Dai­ly Mail.London Enter­tain­ment

“I know he will for­ev­er regret he didn’t make his move when he had the chance,” a friend of the leg­endary actor told the out­let. “For years after he and Diane split, Al used to say, ‘If it’s meant to be, it’s nev­er too late for a do-over.’ But sad­ly, now it is.”

“Look­ing back, Al admits the love of his life was Diane, who he’s always called, ‘an amaz­ing woman,’” the friend added.

The source also said that Keaton and Paci­no nev­er spoke — despite hav­ing both lived near one anoth­er in Bev­er­ly Hills.

“I once asked him why, and he told me, ‘There’s no need to talk with each oth­er. We said every­thing that need­ed to be said at the time,’” the source said.

A rep for Paci­no didn’t imme­di­ate­ly respond to Page Six’s request for com­ment.

The rela­tion­ship end­ed when Keaton gave him an ulti­ma­tum and Paci­no wouldn’t com­mit to marriage.Courtesy Everett Col­lec­tion

Keaton looked back on her rela­tion­ship with Paci­no in a 2017 inter­view with the Sun­day Times, say­ing that in hind­sight, it was bet­ter the two didn’t ever wed.

“I didn’t even want him to pro­pose. I just thought maybe he would mar­ry me, even­tu­al­ly,” she recalled.

“I thought, ‘Don’t even pro­pose — let’s just do it,’” she con­tin­ued. “But that nev­er hap­pened, and that is a bless­ing for both of us. It would have been a night­mare for him.”

The Oscar-win­ning actress told the out­let that ulti­mate­ly, they weren’t a good match.

“We’re very eccen­tric, he need­ed a woman that was going to take care of him, I need­ed a man who would take care of me … It was just very impor­tant that we left each oth­er alone, said good­bye,” she shared. “But it wasn’t my choice.”

Keaton said that she’s ulti­mate­ly glad she nev­er mar­ried Paci­no in 2017.©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Col­lec­tion

Keaton pre­vi­ous­ly admit­ted that she was head over heels for Paci­no after devel­op­ing a crush on him while film­ing 1972’s “The God­fa­ther.”

“I was mad for him. Charm­ing, hilar­i­ous, a non­stop talk­er,” Keaton told Peo­ple about her ex in 2017. “There was an aspect of him that was like a lost orphan, like this kind of crazy idiot savant. And oh, gor­geous!”

Keaton nev­er mar­ried, but she adopt­ed two chil­dren in her 50s — daugh­ter Dex­ter, 29, and son Duke, 25. Paci­no has also nev­er been mar­ried. He has four chil­dren: Julie Marie, 35, twins Anton and Olivia, 24, and son Roman, 2.

What do you think? Post a com­ment.

Paci­no made a rare pub­lic appear­ance at the 45th AFI Life Achieve­ment Award Trib­ute to hon­or Keaton in 2017.

“You’re an artist, Di,” he told her dur­ing his speech. “You’re a great artist. … I love you, for­ev­er.”

The “Scent of a Woman” actor isn’t Keaton’s only ex report­ed­ly strug­gling to cope with her pass­ing.

Woody Allen — whom Keaton dat­ed for a few years in the ear­ly ’70s and worked with on mul­ti­ple films — is “extreme­ly dis­traught” over Keaton’s death.