Diane Keaton has revealed that she missed out on having a baby because she never met the right man.

The actress, who dated Woody Allen and Warren Beatty, said she wanted to wait until she was in a solid relationship before becoming a mother, but never found the ideal partner.

She eventually adopted daughter Dexter in 1996, followed by son Duke in 2001.

Keaton, who is 62 on Saturday, told the Ladies' Home Journal: "Motherhood was not an urge I couldn't resist, it was more like a thought I'd been thinking for a very long time. So I plunged in.

"I've had such an unusual life. Obviously career-oriented. I was happy to be a daughter well into my 40s. That was something that meant a lot to me. I didn't think that I was ever going to be prepared to be a mother."

She explained: "I wanted to be in a good relationship. Those good relationships that are strong and substantive never happened for me, and that prolonged my indecisiveness. When I fell in love that took over my life for a long time."

The Oscar-winner added that she embarrasses her children by taking them to school in bare feet, saying: "[They ask me] 'Can't you be normal, lady?'"