OCTOBER 2025 – When Diane Keaton died last week at age 79, all the big newsrooms published characteristically solid obituaries – largely focused on her Hollywood roles and her career as the “Soulfully Quirky Muse to a Generation,” as the WSJ put it.
But two writers for the NYT – real estate reporter Rukmini Callimachi and LA Bureau Chief Shawn Hubler – followed up this week with an affectionate and fascinating report on Keaton’s lifelong side hustle: Flipping houses. She bought and sold nearly 50 in all, mostly in Southern California, they report. It’s a tale full of positive color about the eclectic and original Keaton. Keaton tells an LA interior designer how difficult a client she is. She is quoted too as saying she made more flipping houses than acting in all those pictures. It’s a wonderfully inspiring coda to all the official obits, and any homeowner can relate. The photos are worth the price of admission alone.
In fact, the NYT report is a nice diversion from the usual coverage lately of high-profile people: Major newsrooms have shown they’re not above reporting on celebrities when they fall from their happy perches. They indulge now in Vanity Fair-style gossip about the rich and famous – recently they’ve been merciless on David Geffen, for one. And another, Nicolas Peuch, an Hermes retailing heir who was taken in a swindle. Then there’s the Canadian billionaire heir named Taylor Thomson who, according to the WSJ, had a fallout out with a longtime friend and lost millions Schadenfreude still gets and keeps paying subscribers!
The NYT take on Diane Keaton’s house flipping is a nice counterpoint to all that – or maybe it’s just more confirmation that the only time you can expect to be treated nicely by the press is when you’re gone.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/realestate/diane-keaton-real-estate-flipper.html