Keanu Reeves made his name with Point Break, The Matrix and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. But the private star has been nursing grief after being struck by heartbreaking tragedies

With a net worth of £290m, his pick of the juiciest film roles and over four decades of critically acclaimed work under his belt, Keanu Reeves has every reason to celebrate turning 60 on Monday, September 2.

Known affectionately as the internet’s boyfriend, Keanu has made a name for himself outside movies as a philanthropist, a donor to worthy causes and all-round good guy. His generosity is legendary within the entertainment industry – he gifted the entire stunt team working on the Matrix films Harley Davidson bikes so they could experience his beloved “demon ride”, and even junior stage hands have spoken about how he would treat them all to breakfast and lunch every day on set.

A 1997 photo of him sitting and chatting with a homeless man still goes viral every few years, as testament to his wholesomeness. He has quietly donated millions of his own money to children’s hospitals in America, in honour of his sister who beat cancer after a four-year struggle. And as well as being a Hollywood superstar, Keanu has played bass for his alt-rock band Dogstar since 1991.

Keanu as a young boy, who was born to his English mum in Lebanon

Keanu’s name is Hawaiian, courtesy of his father(Image: Getty Images)

But Keanu’s life has also been soaked in tragedy. He and partner Jennifer Syme sadly lost their baby when Jennifer was eight months pregnant, and little Ava Archer Syme-Reeves was stillborn on Christmas Eve of 1999. Their heartbreak led to the pair splitting weeks later, and in April 2001, Jennifer was killed when her Jeep smashed into three parked vehicles in Los Angeles.

The 28-year-old was found to be intoxicated and wasn’t wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, sending her flying from the car. A heartbroken Keanu revealed the pair had privately reconciled shortly before her death and had enjoyed brunch together the day before. At her funeral he shouldered her coffin, and laid Jennifer to rest next to their tiny daughter. He had been scheduled to film the Matrix sequels back-to-back a year later, but asked the studio to push back his commitments, seeking “peace and time” to deal with his grief, according to his friend and bandmate Bret Domrose.

Keanu and Jennifer Syme pictured shortly before the heartbreaking loss of their baby daughter(Image: EMPICS Entertainment)

The famously private actor later opened up about his loss in an interview about 2014 box office smash John Wick, a hitman who comes out of retirement seeking revenge against the men who killed his late wife’s dog. Keanu said he could relate to the troubled character, saying: “I thought it was one of the foundations of the role. I love his grief, I relate to that, and I don’t think you ever work through it. Grief and loss don’t ever go away.”

Keanu with his mum Patricia at the funeral of his ex-girlfriend Jennifer(Image: GC Images)

And the loss of his child and partner wasn’t the first time the Hollywood star had encountered death. Keanu was left reeling when his close friend and fellow actor River Phoenix died of a drug overdose in 1993 outside the West Hollywood club The Viper Room.

The pair had starred opposite each other in 1989’s Parenthood, and solidified their friendship when Reeves jumped on his motorbike and rode the 1,300 miles from Toronto to Phoenix’s family ranch in Florida to convince him to star in My Own Private Idaho together. River’s agent had refused to even let the young actor read the screenplay, but Keanu believed in the premise. “OK, I’ll do it if you do it. I don’t do it if you won’t,” Phoenix reportedly told his friend – and sure enough, the two signed on the dotted line together.

The talented youngster’s death, which came after he took a combination of cocaine and heroin known as a speedball, hit Keanu hard. “It’s something he thinks about all the time, something he never really talks about,” a pal said. “Friends know not to go there with him.” But in a 2022 Ask Me Anything session on Reddit, Keanu opened up about the pair’s bond when asked to share a fun experience he’d had with co-stars while filming. “I had a scene with River Phoenix and he was sitting on the back of a motorcycle that I was driving while we were filming,” he recalled. “It wasn’t extracurricular, but we went off the beaten path a bit and came back, [there were] no helmets. Just two friends playing. It was a really good day.”

Keanu with best friend River Phoenix, who died of a drug overdose(Image: Everett/REX/Shutterstock)

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Keanu’s Speed co-star Sandra Bullock remembered seeing the reclusive star struggling in the aftermath of River’s accidental death. “I watched how Keanu grieved. And oh, did he grieve for his friend,” she said in a 2021 interview. “He’s very private, but he couldn’t hide that. And just to see that a man like that was able to grieve. And I remember thinking, ‘God, if that’s the tip of the iceberg of his depth’, and his level of love and care for a friend – that just draws you in.”

Even Keanu’s childhood was not the happiest of starts. His mother Patricia, who comes from Essex, met his father Samuel Reeves when she was working in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. The young Keanu was born there, but Samuel abandoned the family when his little boy was just three years old, and the two had a strained relationship throughout his formative years. They last saw each other when Keanu was 13, meeting on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, and barely spoke, he later revealed. “On our last day we sat on the veranda and stared at the dark sky. He hardly said anything that evening. The next day he brought us to the airport. Then we didn’t hear anything from him for 10 years. No calls, no letters, nothing.”

A young Keanu aged three with two-year-old sister Kim. Kim went on to battle cancer, but thankfully pulled through(Image: Wenn)

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Despite the pain of being left behind, the actor has made it clear he has no interest in reconciling with his father. “No, the story with me and my dad’s pretty heavy. It’s full of pain and woe,” he said in a rare moment of insight into his family history. After Samuel walked out, single mum Patricia moved Keanu and his older sister Kim to Toronto where she married his stepfather Paul Aaron, a Hollywood agent who stayed in touch with the children after divorcing their mum.

The young Keanu had a rocky time in education, moving from school to school four times during his teenage years and even being expelled from one for being “a little too rambunctious”, he admitted. “[I] shot my mouth off once too often… I was not generally the most well-oiled machine in the school.”

Keanu admitted finding school hard as a teenager(Image: Michael Ochs Archives)

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While toying with the prospect of becoming a professional ice hockey player, Keanu sustained a career-ending injury and decided to pursue acting instead. He dropped out of school at the age of 17 and, with the help of his American stepdad, got a green card and moved to LA aged 20.

His first role was in a 1984 episode of comedy series Hangin’ In, followed by TV films and a Coca-Cola advert. It was his work on 1988’s Dangerous Liaisons that made movie executives sit up and take notice, and the following year he bagged his first breakout role as time-travelling slacker Ted in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

Keanu and Alex Winter in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure(Image: Metro Goldwyn Mayer)