What I learned about older men by dating AL PACINO!
Despite a four-decade age gap, they fell madly in love . . . until she realised he’d never give her the baby she longed for. Here, in a gloriously outspoken interview, actress Meital Dohan, 40, reveals . . .
When Meital Dohan, 40, split up with Al Pacino, 79, in February this year, she was entertainingly — some might say recklessly — honest about the reasons why. ‘It’s hard to be with a man so old, even Al Pacino,’ she said breezily.
hollywood gasped. Candour is one thing; describing an Oscar-winning movie icon as too ‘elderly’ for you is quite another. ‘I tried to deny it, but now he is already an elderly man,’ she shrugged. ‘So, even with all my love, it didn’t last.’
But Meital went further, telling a magazine she dumped him after two years because he ‘didn’t like to spend money’ and ‘only bought me flowers’.
Pacino? The megastar worth an estimated £140 million who has dated a host of stars including Diane Keaton, and whose girlfriend before Meital was 43-year-old Argentine actress Lucila Sola (mother of
leonardo DiCaprio’s much younger current squeeze, Camila Morrone)? A bit of a tight-wad?
Today, in her first British interview since the split, Meital is keen to clarify that she didn’t mean it exactly like that.
A lot of what she said was misconstrued, she insists, pulling a face. ‘I was trying to explain that we really tried to make it work.
‘It was an amazing, generous and beautiful love. What happened between us was bigger than materialistic things like flowers or chocolates or diamonds or cars.’
SHe maintains, in fact, that the romance floundered on the dilemma that faces many women who take up with much older men without thought of the consequences further down the line.
In midlife, with the window of opportunity for motherhood narrowing, Meital feels a profound need to have children, while Pacino, already a father of three, apparently does not want to be a father again.
‘It was one of the most incredible love stories of my life, but there was an acknowledgement that we’re both at different places in our lives,’ she says now.
‘Two years is a long time and I was like: “We love each other, but where is this going? I really want to have kids.” It’s harder when someone’s that much older than you, because I still have a family to build, while he already has a family.’
Sadly, there seems little chance that things might change.
‘At his age, it’s a rigid decision,’ she adds.
We meet at the Israeli actress’s house in laurel Canyon, a stunning hillside property with panoramic views of los Angeles.
There’s the obligatory swimming pool on a terrace outside, and inside it’s all laid-back Californian decor with white marble floors, a massive white sofa and interesting art on the walls.
Near the fireplace, there’s a giant flamingo ornament made of cream-coloured china with gold accents.
With her green eyes, glowing complexion and sexily tousled, dark long hair, the 40-year-old is strikingly attractive and talks in a throaty, accented voice. She’s wearing a white sundress, which shows off a trim figure, honed by Pilates and running, and a long, gold, knitted cardigan. Chunky gold platform sandals raise her higher than her natural 5 ft 2 in.
Her fingers are adorned with rings and she has diamond chains around her neck so tight I’m worried she might strangle herself.
She offers me a drink and sips black coffee from a chipped Snow White mug that proclaims: ‘I’m the fairest of them all.’
She met Pacino, whose career has spanned five decades and whose films include The Godfather, Serpico, Scarface and Scent Of A Woman, in early 2018. It was love at first sight.
She was an up-and-coming actress and artist and he was one of the finest actors of his generation. Sparks flew between the pair like cupid’s arrows.
‘We met at a social event before a screening. It was crowded, and we literally bumped into each other. like everyone else, I thought he was cool, an amazing actor and very good-looking,’ she recalls.
‘We started talking and connected immediately. It was like I was seeing sparkly stars and hearts in the air between us.’
Meital threw herself into a romance with the charismatic star with abandon, barely registering the fact that Pacino was nearly four decades older than she was.
Nor did she think too much about the future. Back then, the generation gap between them seemed to present no problems. Age was just a number, she reasoned.
All that mattered was that Pacino was sexy, charming and fun to be with, and they embarked on an intense love affair.
‘By the time we met for the third time. I realised we were in love.’
Gosh, that’s quick. How did she know?
‘We’d gone out to dinner and neither of us was interested in the food because we were in awe with one another. We couldn’t hear well either. You know how when you’re really excited you can’t hear very well?’
No, I say, wondering if she means that the great actor is becoming hard of hearing.
I have misunderstood, she tells me.
‘We were just sitting and saying: “What’s happening . . . what did you say?” ’ Meital says.
She had not been looking for a new relationship — her last romance with a film director had ended a couple of years earlier.
‘When you’re in your 20s, you jump into relationships and move in with somebody a month later,’ she chuckles.
‘In your 30s you’re more selective about who you are going to be involved with. I didn’t want anyone moving into my house. ‘But I felt this relationship was meant to be. We had a deep connection of souls.’
Meital started acting in her native Israel at the age of 12. Her numerous theatre, television and film credits include the Israeli reworking of ugly Betty and a breakout role as a sexy school administrator in the u.S. TV channel Showtime’s Weeds, a dark comedy set in California and New York.
Currently she can be seen in a cameo role with her pet tiger — more of which later — in the film Cabaret Maxime on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.
She has also had a music career, starting in 2011 and charting