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By Emmanuel Williams

News may have broken for the world on Saturday, October 11, 2025 that Diane Keaton had passed away in a hospital bed, I only knew about it earlier today as news of her cause of death, bacterial pneumonia, grabbed headlines.

For those who will mourn Keaton, most will remember her Oscar winning portrayal as the title character in Annie Hall, directed by Woody Allen, who also played the lead role and co-wrote the script which won Best Original Screenplay at the same 1978 Academy Awards.

Or perhaps they’ll remember her supporting role as the wife of Michael Corleone in all three “Godfather” films.

But my mother introduced me to Diane Keaton when she got us all hooked on a VHS we never returned to the video store: The First Wives Club (1996).

The film is about three wives whose husbands are more interested in younger and newer models, and when they get tossed to the side, they respond with revenge and go after finances, fueled by the metric ton of camaraderie between wives who lost a friend to suicide at the film’s begining because of the same change in her husband’s tastes.

They succeed and open a charity in the deceased (Ophelia)’s name with the winnings. 

But the scene burned into my memory all these years that flashed in my mind’s eye when I got the news, was Diane Keaton, Goldie Hahn, and Bette Midler dancing, waving their arms out of scarves (and, is that mink darling?), singing “You Don’t Own Me” by Lesley Gore, which came first from a solo a capella moment mid film to give Goldie’s character strength amidst a big setback, to the final scene with the full band, crescendo, and style as the credits stream in and the screen fades to black.

“And don’t tell me what to do

And don’t tell me what to say

And when I go out with you

Don’t put me on display”

It gives me chills to recall it now. I felt my mother’s craving for strength and empowerment as she struggled to care for and feed the six of us, hoping for a way out of her own setbacks.

We shouldn’t forget the women who were empowered by art like that, and endeavor to create art that empowers everyone.

Rest in peace, Diane Keaton.

We don’t own you.