When it comes to the love lives of straight male celebrities, we’ve all noticed an eyeroll-worthy trend of dating exclusively younger women.
So it came as a collective breath of fresh air when Canadian actor Keanu Reeves stepped out at a red carpet event with what looks to be his first new romance in years (No, getting with Ali Wong in “Always Be My Maybe” doesn’t count).
The 55-year-old actor turned heads when he appeared at an industry gala on Saturday joined by a plus one: Alexandra Grant, a 46-year-old artist from Los Angeles.
Fans on Twitter were taken aback by this (sort-of) new personal development in the notably discreet A-lister’s life; the last time he was rumoured to be in a relationship was 11 years ago; he was briefly linked with China Chow in 2008.
What didn’t come as a surprise was that Actual Good Guy Keanu Reeves would have an age-appropriate love life. We continue to stan a Respectable King!
Of course, people were happy for the couple’s apparent affection for each other too.
This isn’t the first time the pair have been out in public together — they’ve attended multiple events over the years, including an arts benefit in May and a fashion show a month later.
Grant’s radiant smile had many feeling vicariously satisfied. The artist’s uncanny resemblance to veteran actor Helen Mirren also did not go unnoticed.
As someone not in the celebrity public eye, Grant had many wondering who she was. Here’s some notable facts about the artist everyone’s envying right now:
First things first: she’s a Capricorn
“What’s her sign?” is a burning question for the astrology enthusiasts out there that there is thankfully an answer for.
The Cut reports that Grant is a Capricorn, an Earth sign that’s fairly compatible with Reeves: as a Virgo, he’s a fellow Earth sign too. “Together they form a solid union based firmly in reality,” Astrology.com states. So it looks like the stars are rooting for the couple too.
She went to a Quaker college
Grant was raised all over the globe by her college professor parents, tracing her roots to Mexico, France, and Spain, before settling in Los Angeles in 1995. She told LA Weekly that she studied mathematics at Swarthmore College, an institute founded by Quakers in Pennsylvania, before entering an artistic graduate program at the California College of the Arts.
Grant is an artist who loves words
With works predicated on language and visual mediums, Grant has frequently received honours and residencies from around the world.
One of her latest projects is a series of neon artworks that references Greek mythology, particularly the tragedy of Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus.
The work was explored in conversation with writer Roxane Gay, who Grant had gone to high school with. Newsweek reports that the talk highlighted Grant’s line of thinking on self-love.
From interviews she’s done, it’s clear that she also shares Reeves’ penchant for deep thinking and profound statements; in an interview with The Creative Independent about her love of words, she revealed that she had an existential crisis at the age of six.
“In my little head, for example, I would lay in bed at night and say, ‘Who gave god the word ‘god?’ What was there before?’ I would create these little philosophical noodles about naming things,” she told the publication.
One could even say that she might be the art world’s equivalent of Keanu. Like her partner, Grant has been known for her giving nature. She’s the founder of grantLove, a company that sells apparel benefitting other artists.
She’s partnered with Keanu before
The two met at a dinner party in 2009, the New York Times reports, leading to their collaboration on Reeves’ books Ode to Happiness and Shadows; the actor’s musings on life and poems were paired with her visuals.
“My intention with the text ... was to explore something personal, but also communicate something universal,” he said during a joint public appearance for Shadows in 2016.
While he went on a very typically Keanu meander, Grant made sure to tell the audience that two had worked extensively on several drafts.
And when he started reading from the book, it was Grant who gently ribbed his lack of dramatic storytelling as the two took turns reading lines.
“And you couldn’t hold me in that way, all things hoped,” Reeves recited from his book.
“You could do better on that delivery, by the way,” she commented, which was met with laughs from the audience.
Towards the end of the reading, the two exchanged even more charged banter.
“I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours,” she says while giggling.
Reeves responds with a smile and head shake, before saying, “Yearning, always yearning.”
Easygoing rapport or flirty energy? You decide.
They run a publishing company together
Not many know that the multihyphenate Reeves is also a book seller. The duo’s love for the written word runs deep. In 2017, they founded X Artists’ Books, an independent press that exclusively prints books that are hard to find in the mainstream literary scene. They told the LA Times that they like books that “don’t really have a place because they’re between genres.”
It’s official-ish?
Although Reeves or his representatives have yet to publicly acknowledge the couple’s status, it’s safe to say that this is the most we’ve seen Reeves display any sort of romantic interest out in the open. Hopefully Reeves’ (probably illegitimate) marriage to Winona Ryder won’t get in the (maybe) happy couple’s way.
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