Now 50
years old, Keanu's life has been full of more tragedy than you would expect
from a movie star. Despite each setback, he's kept pushing forward. It's helped
develop himself into the awesome person that he is on and off the screen.
At the
age of three, his father left their family. They stayed in touch for a few
years, but after the divorce and moving from city to city, they fell out of
contact. Keanu attended four different high schools and struggled with
dyslexia, making his education more challenging than it is for most. Eventually
he left high school without earning a diploma, though through sheer will, he is
an avid reader now.
At the
age of 23, his closest friend River Phoenix died of a drug overdose. During a
Reddit AMA last year, Keanu said: “He was a remarkable human person and actor.
We got along very well, and I miss him. I think of him often.”
In
1998, Keanu met Jennifer Syme. The two fell instantly in love and by 1999,
Jennifer was pregnant with their daughter. Sadly, after eight months, their
child was born stillborn. They were devastated by her death and it eventually
ended their relationship. 18 months later, Syme would die in a car accident.
In
2006, Reeves told Parade Magazine, “Grief changes shape, but it never ends.”
It's a lesson that we'll all likely learn.
Even
with those incredible tragedies, Reeves would push on. He's starred in a
variety of blockbusters and has become a wealthy man, but the pain of his
losses has changed how he thinks about money. He's well known in Hollywood for
being among the more charitable actors. After the successes of The Matrix and
its sequels, Reeves gave $80 million of his $114 million earnings to the
special effects and makeup staff of the films. He also took pay cuts on the
films The Replacements and The Devil's Advocates so stars like Gene Hackman and
Al Pacino would agree to be in the film while keeping casting within the
designated budget.
There
are some incredible personal accounts of his kindness as well. Redditor Kahi
made the following comment about the Sad Keanu meme:
“A
family friend builds movie sets, doesn't design, is one of the poor dudes that
just builds. Anyways he worked on the set for the Matrix and Keanu heard about
family trouble he was having and gave him a $20,000 Christmas bonus to help him
out. He also was one of the only people on the set that genuinely wanted to
know people's names, would say hello and mean it, and would talk to people as
if they were his peers and not below him just because they were practically making
nothing to build a set. I've never heard anyone say Keanu is a douche, seems
like the nicest person in Hollywood from a second hand experience.”
In his
AMA, he told fans that he likes to keep it simple. In 2003, Keanu told Hello!
Magazine: “Money is the last thing I think about. I could live on what I have
already made for the next few centuries.”
Even
though he's likely worth $100 million, the man still rides the subway. And he's
super nice about it too.
So in
the end, I think we can all pretty well agree that even in the face of tragedy,
a stellar person can thrive.