Actress Beverly D’Angelo has had a string of hits, from the National Lampoon’s Vacation films to Coal Miner’s Daughter, yet nothing came close to changing her life like having twins with her former beau Al Pacino. In the new issue of Closer Weekly, Beverly opens up about what it was like to have twins at 49 and what it’s like today co-parenting with Al.

“I had a fantasy that when you have kids, you do it in a family setting,” Beverly, 65, reveals to Closer. “After we’d known each other for three months, [Al] looked me in the eyes and said, ‘I want you to be the mother of my children.’ That’s all I had to hear.”

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Beverly explains the next few years were a whirlwind. “I got pregnant at 48, delivered six weeks after I was 49, and by 51, I was looking at a landscape as a single parent,” she says of raising Anton and Olivia Pacino, now 16.

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Beverly and Al.

Her split with Al turned into a bitter custody battle, and while they have resolved their issues now, it was a tough learning experience. “When you focus on getting pregnant, you can lose the perspective that you’re creating a family and a responsibility to a child’s future,” she tells Closer.

Beverly tells Closer how her and Al got past all the drama and became friends. “The key thing is creating a new history, and moving on from whatever dissolved that relationship to the new one of co-parenting,” she says.

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“The most important thing I’ve learned is how vital acceptance is. We all have a desire to change things that we don’t like, but you can’t change another person. You have to accept differences and all the things that led to a breakup in a way that allows you to move forward. And out of my support system and people I know and love, I’ve created the ideal partner.”

Still, her experiences gave her “wisdom” that informs her latest roles as a tough national security adviser on the USA series Shooter and a sexy older mom in the indie film Dreamland.

What’s next for the actress? “I should write a memoir,” she tells Closer. “I want to, and I’m ready to. And if you could take my life and put it into a role, that would be my dream role!”

For more on TK, pick up the latest issue of Closer Weekly, on newsstands now — and be sure to sign up for our newsletter for exclusive news!