Keanu Reeves showed up to a red carpet event with his girlfriend on the weekend and if the internet’s reaction is anything to go by, you could be forgiven for thinking that Christmas – including Christ himself – had come early.
Reeves and his lady made their public debut at a Los Angeles Art and Film gala. Twitter in particular lost its mind.
Part of everyone’s wild enthusiasm is down to the fact that Reeves, who at 55, still remains intensely private, is sharing his love with the world. Part of it too, is collective happiness for the actor who has weathered personal tragedy and admitted earlier this year to being a
But the biggest part? That would be Grant herself, a Los Angeles artist, who appears, with her natural poise and benevolent smile, to be as warm and serene as a hot mug of chamomile tea, sipped slowly in a bath overlooking the Swiss Alps.
The pair reportedly embarked on a friendship back in 2011 when they collaborated on a book together – a book that originally began as a gift from Grant to Reeves, which is a flirtatious move, and decidedly old school in our online dating world.
But Reeves was never going to be the guy to slide into anyone’s DMs. At least, we hoped not – and lo, our hope has been given wings, with this totally appropriate relationship.
It’s not just that her age is within a decade of Reeves. When you find out that silver-haired Grant is a registered celebrant who studied mathematics at a university founded by Quakers and creates artworks based on Ancient Greek love stories, you sigh and think: “That is sort of … exactly who I wanted for him. I just didn’t know it until I saw her. ”
For the first time in a long time, it feels like a slightly older, famous man is dating someone who is right for him. The bar shouldn’t be that low, but given that the last two years of the #MeToo movement has revealed so many famous men to be creeps, holding hands with a nice lady feels like a win for all of us.
The more we learn about Grant, who was papped with Reeves in October, the more it appears that she is the missing piece of the man who always looks like he just fell to earth.
Asked by in May when she first knew she was an artist, Grant responded in a way that might be described as astonishingly Keanu-esque.
“Artist” is the best word for all the things that I love to do … reading, staring into space, daydreaming, inventing symphonic-scale projects … or growing seeds into plants, finding meaning in the patterns of bathroom tiles … believing in the goodness of people and love, drawing while listening to music, experiencing language as images and colours, and desiring to be solitary while doing most of the above.”
See? Reeves, who has starred in a dozen action movies looking like he’d rather be contemplating the innocence of a thousand daisies, appears to have met his match in Grant, who seems like she was already there in the meadow, smiling at the universe - and patiently waiting.
Natalie Reilly is a freelance writer. You can follow Natalie on Twitter
