Daniel popowski
08/15/2021 12:10
Clarín.com
International
shows
Updated 08/15/2021 12:10 PM
Days away from his 57th birthday, Keanu Reeves is one of the
most current and highest paid actors in
Hollywood.
Far from the flashes and despite earning millions of dollars, fame never went to his head.
He is
humble, austere
and is always cordial to people and the press.
Perhaps it has a lot to do with the fact that no fortune could prevent him from going through a
traumatic life, marked by tragedies
: abuse during his childhood, a heroin trafficker father and the hardest deaths for a human being.
"I do not need happiness to live," recognizes who will shine in the Matrix and John Wick.
And he adds: "When the people you love leave, you are left alone. And then the duel changes shape, but it never ends."
Childhood: abusive father and heroin dealer
He was born in Beirut, Lebanon, although he has Canadian nationality.
His father, Samuel Nowlin Reeves,
he was
a heroin dealer who was in prison.
He left him when he was two years old, and when he came back into his life, while still a child, he abused and humiliated him in front of the neighbors.
Keanu Reeves with his mother, Patricia Taylor, during an Oscar Awards ceremony.
Photo: Reuters
At age 13 she finally said goodbye to him for good.
And his mother
Patricia Taylor
was forced to go to all kinds of efforts to support her family, like working as a stripper in nightclubs.
In this way, they constantly moved and changed cities, schools, promoting a sense of rootlessness.
In fact, until not long ago the actor, who has
Asperger syndrome
, defines himself as a "poorly oiled machine",
Samuel Nowlin Reeves Jr, Keanu's father, went to prison for heroin trafficking.
With the moves and the years also appeared
"occasional stepparents"
, who also did not stand out for the good dealings with Keanu and his sisters.
But the gratitude towards the mother always remained intact.
The loss of River Phoenix, his best friend
Lean and lonely, Keanu met
Joaquin Phoenix's older brother, River
,
in 1989
, with whom he immediately struck up a friendship.
After meeting in the comedy
I will love you until I kill you
(Lawrence Kasdan, 1990), they starred together in
My Private Idaho
('My Own Private Idaho', 1991), the independent film by Gus Van Sant in which they both stood out.
Keanu Reeves suffered the early death from an overdose of his friend River Phoenix, Joaquín's brother.
Two years later the unexpected news came:
River died of an overdose at just 23 years old
.
With his parents members of a sect and living in deplorable conditions, he represented the only sustenance.
He began to live with his own demons, and drugs were his refuge.
In an interview, Keanu assured that he still has this in mind today and that he could possibly have done more to prevent him from continuing to use drugs.
His sister with leukemia
Keanu's sister, Kim Reeves,
was diagnosed with leukemia in 1991
.
It was a hard blow at a special moment in which the young actor was beginning to take off.
His sister Kim was diagnosed with leukemia.
He was always by his side.
The same young woman remarked in more than one interview that her brother accompanied her at all times, in the hospital.
He never left her alone or allowed her to get depressed.
"My brother is my prince," he stated.
Luckily she got ahead and today she is cured.
Keanu
donated 70% of his profits from the Matrix film to different hospitals that treat this terrible disease
.
The death of his daughter
Keanu received the crush at a party in 1998. There was
Jennifer Syme,
a young aspiring actress who worked as
assistant director David Lynch.
Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Syme
A year later they
were already
waiting for her baby
.
Until then, everything was happiness while they waited for the arrival of the little girl, who would be called Ava Archer Syme-Reeves.
However, the baby
died in the womb at eight months of gestation
.
The very hard blow for the couple was strengthened when they had to extract the girl precisely on Christmas 1999.
The tragic death of his girlfriend
The anguish and grief after the death of the baby
accelerated the separation
of the couple.
And Jennifer took the worst path, that of drugs, one that Keanu knew very closely from his father and his best friend.
Jennifer Syme, Keanu Reeves' wife, died in an accident after colliding with her car.
Thus the young woman began to lose herself in the night, attending all possible parties where she could drown sorrows in alcohol and any drug.
It was precisely on the way to one of them that he met his end.
On April 1, 2001, Syme had attended a
party at the home of controversial musician Marilyn Manson
.
When a friend noticed that she was in a pathetic state, she decided to drive her home.
But Keanu's ex,
28
, didn't want the party to end.
It was then that he got into his Jeep Grand Cherokee to return to the party.
But he
had an accident and died on the spot
.
According to the reports, he was traveling without a seatbelt, he was intoxicated and they found white and powder, two bottles of prescription drugs, a muscle relaxant and an anticonvulsant.
John Wick and The Matrix, two hits from the Lebanese-born actor.
Humble and no-frills despite his $ 350 million fortune
The magnitude of the tragedies that Keanu Reeves went through were shaping his personality, always cordial, pleasant and grateful.
Also, of course, clearly establishing the priorities in your life.
And an example is your link with money.
Although he has an
estimated fortune of 360 million dollars
, the actor lives very modestly in an apartment.
No mansions strewn across the US and the world, no high-end cars for every occasion.
Few believed it, but despite his fortune Keanu Reeves traveled frequently on the subway.
And what if it is true, that on certain occasions it was a trend in the networks after being seen
eating alone in the street
or on a bench in the plaza.
One year, for example, he decided to celebrate his birthday alone, with a coffee and a small cupcake.
cake with a candle on it.
An image of him also attracted attention, no less than during a
trip aboard the subway or subway, sitting reading the newspaper
like any neighbor's son and not a movie star.
Humble and austere, Reeves was seen eating in the street
"
Money is the last thing I think about
.
I
could
live on what I have already done for the next centuries," he said at the time, and reaffirms it with his deeds, since he usually donates much of his fabulous income.
His love with Alexandra Grant
After so many storms again the sky cleared again for the actor of remembered hits such as
The Devil's Advocate (1997)
and
Constantine (2005)
, among others, in addition to the aforementioned
Matrix
and
John Wick
sagas
.
After many years of friendship, Reeves and
Alexandra Grant
went public with their romance in late 2019, holding hands at a red carpet event in Los Angeles.
Artist Alexandra Grant is Keanu Reeves' current partner
She is a 48-year-old American artist who carries out drawings and paintings as well as sculptures and videos.
Those who know her speak of Grant as a "cool and elegant woman" who is "very calm, humble and discreet".
Without a doubt, reasons more than valued by an introvert Reeves.
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The dark true story that inspired Night Shyamalan's "Sixth Sense"
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