Editor’s Note: We were about to write another story about Keanu Reeves, this is regarding him giving 70% of his Matrix’s salary to charity. But upon further research it turned out to be a false story. HOWEVER, we don’t need another story to know how awesome Keanu is! I think we all can agree that Keanu Reeves is an awesome human being. We’ve featured him a few times already on our site telling you about the good deeds he has done. The story below is our favorite! (01/09/2022)
Admit it, at one point in our life all of us dreamed of being a celebrity. After all celebrities appear to have it all- money, fame, and success. With them living in the limelight, it’s hard to realize that, just like the rest of us, they are also humans.
And humans are all made up of the challenges we triumphed on that define who we are today. Each and everyone of us has a story to tell.
Keanu Reeves, a Hollywood star who’s been in the industry for more than 3 decades, has graced the news countless times before. Now, the actor with a great love for performing arts, is making noise around the internet again after the world discovered how he has been silently funding children’s hospitals.
Unbeknownst to most people, Keanu Reeves has his fair share of highs and lows. He was only 3 when his father left his family. And he struggled a lot with reading given the challenges posed by his dyslexia.
The talented actor did not only know how harsh reality could be. He also knew very well how painful it is to lose someone you love.
He lost his best friend who was only 23 years old from drug overdose. He lost his first child to a miscarriage. And he lost his greatest love, the mother of his stillborn child, to a car accident.
When the rest of the world was congratulating him for the success of the Matrix, he was facing a difficult time of his life after learning that his sister, Kim Reeves was diagnosed with leukemia in the year 1999. Fortunately, his beloved sister survived her cancer.
To say that these heartbreaking incidences scarred the talented actor is an understatement. But Keanu Reeves did not let these heartbreaking experiences get the better of him.
Perhaps, he even turned it as an inspiration to get to the place where he is today. Now, the actor is not only successful in his field, he is also known for dedicating his life in helping others.
In an interview, the 54-year-old actor told Ladies’ Home Journal in the year 2009 that he has been financing research programs and foundations for children’s hospitals battling against cancer. This is in dedication of his sister, Kim Reeves, who survived from leukemia.
“I have a private foundation that’s been running for five or six years, and it helps aid a couple of children’s hospitals and cancer research,” Keanu Reeves shared.
Surprised? Well, the talented actor loves working in silence. It seems that he does not want to associate his name with it because it is not something to brag about.
“I don’t like to attach my name to it, I just let the foundation do what it does.” Keanu Reeves added.
Keanu Reeves is not only generous with money in helping out foundations. The talented actor also frees his time and personally attends projects for a cause.
In a charity event for cancer, Stand Up to Cancer telethon in the year 2008, Keanu Reeves was reported to take calls from the public to help boost funds.
In addition, when the SCORE or Spinal Cord Opportunities for Rehabilitation Endowment, another charity which Keanu Reeves supports, set up a charity event, Keanu Reeves happily acted out his childhood dream of playing pro-hockey.
But Keanu Reeve’s samaritan gestures do not stop there. As a testament of Keanu Reeve’s kind heart, a Reddit user under the name bod2dd2 shared his personal account of one of Keanu’s compassionate deeds. His Reddit comment reads:
“Back in the late 90s and fresh out of college I got my first job as an assistant prop designer on the set of Chain Reaction (Keanu was a supporting actor with Morgan Freeman). EVERY DAY for the last few weeks of filming, Keanu treated the stage hands and “grunt workers” (including myself) by taking us out for free breakfast and lunch. He was genuinely a very nice guy to work with.
“Since then, I’ve worked on about 30 different sets and have never met an actor as generous and friendly as him. Most actors I’ve seen and worked with are total douches who always think they are better than us. Keanu on the other hand, at the very least, was socially approachable and definitely kindhearted.”
“That was one example (that involved me directly), but (on the same set), I remember him going out of his way to give my friend a ride to the repair shop to pick up his car… I’ll write more as I remember, but its been a while.”
As it turned out, user bod2dd2 was not the only one who experienced Keanu Reeve’s kindness. Another Reddit user, lovemyax, shared a story of her friend, detailing how the renowned actor helped her.
“A friend of mine told me that she was once stranded on the side of a highway outside LA when her jalopy broke down. She had no cell phone (that was before most people had cell phones) and no way to call for help. Then a nice black porsche pulls over and as you can guess, it was Keanu. He tried to help her jump start the car and when it didn’t work, he called AAA for her.
When they towed her car, he offered her to drive her home, which she accepted. He drove about 50 miles out of his destination just to drive her home. She told me she hoped he would hit on her but he didn’t, he was just a gentleman, dropped her at her house, gave her his phone number and told her to call him if she needed further help.”
Be it for cancer-patients or children’s hospitals, fellow actors and workers, or fellow humans, Keanu Reeve‘s touching samaritan deeds know no boundaries.
It sure is inspiring to know that celebrities like him who seems to have it all, does not turn a blind eye to the people who needs his help. May the multitude testaments of his gold heart inspire us to leave footprints of kindness to the people we meet in our life just like him.