After a decade of friendship, actor Keanu Reeves (55) and visual Artist Alexandra Grant (46), debuted their relationship publically at the LACMA Art + Film Gala in Los Angeles.
As a notoriously private celebrity, Reeves has only gone public with two relationships throughout his 30 plus year career. He was with the actress Jennifer Syme who died in a car accident in 2001, just two years after giving birth to their stillborn daughter. Almost a decade later, he was briefly linked with model China Chow.
He has a reputation of being possibly one of Hollywood’s few genuinely kind and respectful actors, and as such he is often the topic of many an adoring meme. Love for Keanu is felt far and wide, which is why the Internet unsurprisingly erupted at the news of his artist beau. His contemporaries often have girlfriends 20 years their junior. Leonardo DiCaprio (45), a serial cradle snatcher, is currently linked with a 24-year-old model. Likewise, Dennis Quaid (65) recently announced his engagement to a 26-year-old university student. Naturally, the news of an age-appropriate girlfriend was going to be nothing short of ground-breaking.
The reaction to her hair has been just as loud as the reaction to the relationship itself. While most women go grey around their mid-30s, the image of a woman boldly showing her age on the arm of a Hollywood-leading gentleman is virtually unheard of. Despite being an accomplished artist and graduate of both Swarthmore College and the Californian College of Arts, these accolades are eclipsed by her decision to embrace the grey. This is just further evidence that in Hollywood, the currency of youth and beauty is invaluable – if you aren’t 24, then you might as well be 70.
However, Keanu Reeves should not be labelled a hero for dating a woman with grey hair and who isn’t 20 years his junior. To us regular folk, Hollywood remains a glittering mirage, dictated by a completely alien set of social norms. While we would consider 40-year-old men dating 20 year-olds creepy and a little sad, to them it is more than acceptable. Comparatively, while an appropriate age-gap sends nuclear shock waves through the star-studded streets of Hollywood, we ordinary people struggle to find anything remarkable about it.
Image Credit: NBC News