Keanu Reeves’ new relationship holds a light to Hollywood age-gap romances
When Keanu Reeves stepped out with his new age appropriate girlfriend this week, the internet just about lost its mind. Which really says a lot about where we’re at, writes Kerry Parnell.
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News flash: Keanu Reeves is with an age-appropriate woman.
As Bill and Ted would say, bodacious.
This week Keanu, 55, made headlines for dating old friend, Alexandra Grant. Nothing unusual here, until you realise that artist Alexandra is 46 and – here’s the crucial part – looks it.
The intelligent and accomplished woman has the temerity to have grey hair and look, well, like a woman in her late forties. Cue internet meltdown.
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Comments have been split between mainly women congratulating Keanu – known for being a kind, genuine and thoughtful man – on having settled down with someone of his own age group, counterbalanced with those from mainly men declaring he could have done a lot better. “She looks like his mum,” was a popular response, as was “she could be his grandma” and “ugh”.
Obviously, Keanu should have done a Leonardo DiCaprio and gone for a model in her twenties; women in their forties or fifties being washed-up old crones, you understand.
Sometimes it is hard to remember we’re in 2019 and not 1959. It’s disappointing.
Why would a man dating a woman of his own age be more surprising to us than someone like Leonardo, 45, who has gone from teen hunk to middle-aged chunk and has a penchant for dating girls young enough to be his daughter? That makes me think much less of him. After a string of model partners, the Titanic star’s latest girlfriend is 22-year-old model Camila Morrone and the pictures of them on the beach in Corsica earlier this year are a little, let’s say, unbalanced. But those snaps didn’t make the headlines, or spark tons of nasty comments about Gilbert Grape eating all the croissants.
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Sadly, Keanu is the exception in Hollywood – the land where men just upgrade their wives when they get past their use-by date. Take Bruce Dickinson, 61, who it was also revealed this week has separated from his wife of 29 years, Paddy Bowden. The mother of his three children had been by the side of the Iron Maiden star as he battled tongue cancer.
After he got the all-clear, Bruce declared, “Living is living now, every minute, every second, for right now,” which was jolly inspiring, until you realise it didn’t include his wife, but did feature busty fitness instructor Leana Dolci, reportedly 15 years his junior.
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Every time I read about another star going down this cliched route, it tarnishes my view of them. Ewan McGregor, 48, who had seemed such a decent chap, left his wife of 22 years, Eve Mavrakis, for his Fargo co-star Mary Elizabeth Winstead, 34. Johnny Depp, 56, used to wax lyrical about how he fell in love with the back of Vanessa Paradis’ neck, who he was with for 14 years, until one surmises, her neck got lined and he married Amber Heard, then 28, instead. After that he took up with 23-year-old go-go dancer Polina Glen. Another ’90s hero gone from cool to fool.
Still, all is not lost – with Keanu back in Bill & Ted Face the Music next year, he reveals the rebooted story follows the now middle-aged dads’ quest to save the universe. Excellent!
Keanu, at least, never lost the plot.