Beverly D’Angelo chose kids over career after becoming mother at 49

“National Lampoon” star Beverly D’Angelo reflected on how she missed the chance for a “bigger career” after becoming a first-time mother at age 49.

In 2001, the actress gave birth to twin babies named Anton and Olivia Pacino with her former partner Al Pacino. D’Angelo, now 73, and Pacino, now 85, were in a relationship from 1996 to 2003.

During a recent interview people magazine, D’Angelo said parenting should be prioritized over acting.

“If I had been more focused, maybe I would have had a bigger career, but truth be told, I focused on my kids,” she said.

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“I got them very late and it was like, ‘Been there, done that, let’s do that,'” D’Angelo said.

D’Angelo and Pacino became pregnant with Anton and Olivia, now 25, through in vitro fertilization (IVF), a process they began in 1997.

“Don’t try it at home,” D’Angelo joked to People as he welcomed his children at 49.

D’Angelo and his former partner Al Pacino gave birth to twin babies in 2001. (Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection)

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The actress also explained that there was a generational divide between herself and the mothers of her children’s classmates, stating that “they don’t actually have the same credentials.”

D’Angelo made his career breakthrough in 1980 when he played legendary country singer Patsy Cline in the biographical film “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for this performance.

But she became a household name after starring as Ellen Griswold opposite Chevy Chase’s Clark Griswold in the 1983 hit comedy “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” D’Angelo and Chase returned for sequels to the film, including 1985’s “National Lampoon’s European Vacation,” 1989’s “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and 1997’s “Vegas Vacation.”

D’Angelo starred in the “National Lampoon” series opposite Chevy Chase. (Warner Brothers/Getty Images)

Speaking to People magazine, D’Angelo revealed that he chose a quieter upbringing for his children outside of the typical celebrity-focused Hollywood lifestyle.

He recalled that he didn’t realize “The National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” had become a holiday staple until his then-10-year-old children said “everyone was talking about the movie” at school.

“I didn’t raise my children in this culture,” D’Angelo said.

D’Angelo and Pacino broke up in 2003 after seven years together. (on Instagram)

In addition to Anton and Olivia, Pacino is the father of two other children. “The Godfather” star gave birth to his first child, daughter Julie Pacino, with ex-girlfriend Jan Tarrant in 1989. At the age of 83, he became a father for the fourth time, welcoming son Roman with former partner Noor Alfallah in June 2023.

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In a candid video shared on Instagram in May 2023, D’Angelo recalled falling in love with Pacino after meeting for the first time on a plane from Los Angeles to New York in 1996.

“My story with Al began 27 years ago, when two artists met, fell in love. We lived together for seven years, had two children, separated, but steadily continued our journey as co-parents and began sharing our lives with deeper intimacy, honesty, and acceptance than a ‘traditional’ relationship (at least for us) could allow,” D’Angelo wrote in the caption of her post.

There are photos of Anton, Olivia Pacino, D’Angelo, and the actress’s niece, Courtney D’Angelo, in 2022. (Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)

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D’Angelo went on to reminisce about her and Pacino’s romance, saying that in 1997 he told her, “I want you to be the mother of my children.”

Although D’Angelo stated that she had “avoided” playing the “role” of a mother throughout her life, she said that she was “deeply in love” with Pacino and agreed with him “100 percent.”

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After their relationship became “complicated,” D’Angelo said that the “power” of love for his children “was the basis for resolving any conflicts and creating a new history as co-parents, intertwining individual lives separately but always as a family.”

“As for me and Al, it’s a unique and deep friendship between two artists that we’ve been doing our way for 27 years, for better or worse, that continues to this day, and that’s it,” he concluded his video.