DIANE SAWYER ROCKED BY DOUBLE HEARTBREAK

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The death of acclaimed director Mike Nichols is a double heartbreak for former “ABC World News Tonight” anchor Diane Sawyer, coming just weeks after she lost her mom.

Mike, renowned for “The Graduate” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” among a long list of genius films and plays, died suddenly of a heart attack at 83 on Nov. 19.

Diane’s mother, Jean Sawyer Hayes, passed away at 94 at her Louisville, Ky., home on Oct. 22.

Mike had a heart bypass in 2008, and was in increasingly frail health – but did not stop working. He was adapting the Tony-winning play “Master Class” about soprano Maria Callas for HBO when he died.

“Diane was bereft. She was choking back tears, sobbing, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to go on without him. He was the love of my life,’” a pal told The National ENQUIRER.

Diane, 68, stepped down from her ABC gig in August, and had been splitting her time between nursing her ailing mother and looking after Mike. “Fortunately, Diane’s many friends are rallying around her now,” said the source. “She’s already talking about getting back to work just to fill the empty hole in her heart.”