When a non-celebrity woman starts dating a major celebrity, the celebrity usually gets his publicist to do a very specific girlfriend rollout, where she’ll be profiled by an assortment of magazines, in conjunction with some cutesy little gossip items dropped into People Magazine and Page Six. Think about George Clooney’s girlfriends pre-Amal, or any of the girls Leonardo DiCaprio has dated. With Keanu Reeves’ girlfriend Alexandra Grant, it IS different and yet… maybe not? Alexandra is a well-connected artist in her own right, but we don’t have to pretend to have known that before she held hands with Keanu at the LACMA Art + Film gala last November. But Alexandra is still getting the Clooney-girlfriend treatment with Vogue Magazine! And honestly, good for her. I love that she’s using her “fame” to raise her own profile as an artist. You can read her Vogue profile here. Some highlights:
After she walked the LACMA carpet with Keanu: “I think every single person I knew called me in the first week of November, and that’s fascinating. But the question I’ve been asking in all of this is: ‘What is the opportunity for good?’”
She’s not going to be the Hollywood girlfriend of the moment: “I’m a 6ft 1in woman with white hair. You know, the idea of fitting in… If I wanted to look like Kim Kardashian, I would have to have surgery removing about a foot off my legs.”
Whether she considers herself an “artist”: “I think ‘artist’ best describes what I do, but really it’s a name for a kind of curiosity.”
Her latest art pieces are inspired by the myth of Antigone. She’s particularly drawn to the Greek heroine’s famous sentiment: “I was born to love, not hate.” Grant first conceived the pictures in 2014, but admits they’ve gained extra weight as the world has got weirder. Greta Thunberg could be a modern-day Antigone, she suggests. “It’s been an absolute trip for me, seeing the paintings take on a new life as the political climate changes.”
Her first collaboration with Keanu was the 2011 book, Ode to Happiness: It’s a playful guide to climbing out of depression that juxtaposes his poetic text with her drawings. It was an indication that, even then, the two shared a bond. “The book was made as a surprise, by me, for Keanu, as a private gift. All our friends sitting in the room got the giggles when I gave it to him – they said, ‘Please publish it!’ So that’s how we got into publishing.”
Always a bridesmaid? Grant has a tight social circle in LA – she’s been a bridesmaid seven times and even officiated at one friend’s wedding. Does marriage interest her? “Over a glass of wine… I would love to tell you. Love at every level is deeply important to my identity. How’s that for dodging the question? I do not believe that isolation is the way. There is a period of isolation that I do as a painter, but I deeply value the experience of being in relationships.”
It’s her choice to keep her hair grey: “I am a huge believer in choice – whatever anyone wants to do to feel confident. We should all have more options as to what beauty is. There are billions of us.”
Give yourself permission: “If there’s one thing I would hope, for anybody who comes into contact with me, it’s that I have agency. I can only say: ‘I’ve given myself permission – have you thought about giving yourself permission?’”
“I think ‘artist’ best describes what I do, but really it’s a name for a kind of curiosity.” What in the Neri Oxman…? No, I won’t go there. Alexandra is different! She is Keanu’s chosen one! I bet he loves that she does her own thing and she’s not conforming to Kardashian-like beauty standards or considering naming her new special-breed puppy “Antigone.” Keanu is a man of substance, and he’s with a woman of substance. Bless this union. Also: she totally wants to marry him right?? She might be a fancy, intellectual artist, but she did the same thing all of the Clooney girlfriends used to do: play coy about marriage.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Sure. I’ll take it. She seems lovely and Keanu certainly seems to think so 😉
If this woman was 20 years younger and blonde she’d be getting called every name in the book and yelled at for trying to maximize the publicity. But I guess since she’s middle aged and doesn’t care about dying her hair (I’m in my 30s and have white hair and no one is praising me for it) she gets a pass.
She is being savaged on IG and twitter by certain mean girls who rip apart her every statement. Their goal is to “save” Keanu, as if he’s a snowflake who has been bamboozled.
Well how his fangirls are reacting is a different story. I’m talking about the response to her by casual observers. It’s obvious that because she’s not a bombshell people are praising her and Keanu more, which I think is actually more offensive.
I think casual observers don’t care.
I’ve seen a lot of negative comments about her on the Daily Mail. I don’t necessarily think they are all Keanu’s fangirls. Unfortunately, there are some people who will always tear down women, whether they are younger or older.
I see what you did there, Goldie. 🙂 Hard agree!
@Natal, I admit I’m with you on this. I’m a bit disappointed that she’s popping up at Goop parties and happily interviewing for Vogue because I think we all initially assumed she wouldn’t care about that, or that she would think publicity and fame would ‘degrade’ the purity of her art or whatever. I guess if I were her I might not say no to a Vogue photo shoot either, but I’d draw the line at a goop party and I wouldn’t publicly talk about Keanu or love.
She sounds like she’s absolutely head-over-heels for him and would love the idea of marriage to him. Who wouldn’t! She seems to be enjoying it, however long it lasts. Hopefully she’s not too devastated if it ends
No one knows what the public’s reaction would be if Alexandra Grant were 20 years younger. With age comes confidence and maturity. We live in unprecedented times so it’s difficult to measure the acceptable social norms for celebrities.
Lol at comparing her “kind of curiosity” remark to pretentious thirst-trap Neri Oxman, but I agree, Alexandra seems different and pretty cool.
Oxman’s hubby just made a shitload of money.
“Hedge fund boss Bill Ackman denies his ‘hell is coming’ warning was meant to sow fear before making $2.6B in betting against the markets.”
She is an alum of the college I went to and she sounds exactly like what I would expect her to. It is a pretty self-selecting place that draws in students who are very intellectual in this way. I don’t think this is some kind of facade or anything, I would bet that this is just what her true personality is like.
I really like her. I appreciate that she leaned into doing this interview at all, in spite of being (probably) a private person, because “what is the opportunity for Good?” It seems like Keanu is choosy about when to be “public” in a similar way. I like her ownership of herself.
She sure has given quite a few interviews about being Keanu’s girlfriend for someone so “private”
Could you list all the others, please?
She was at some goop event recently where she was interviewed. There was also another one when the news about her and Keanu came out.
She was at the goop event as a speaker, where she spoke about creativity, mentorship, collaboration. There was no other interview as gf unless you post the specific link. She has been interviewed about her work, both before and after their coming out. About her work, not him. She has never posted his picture on her IG or mentioned him there.
If there’s more interest now, well, that’s how celebrity culture works. And everyone here knows that GP would latch on and then pretend that she’d “discovered” her.
To be fair, it seems there’s far more coverage than actual interviews.
In this particular interview she appears to acknowledge that people are fascinated by her and her work (and curious about her hair!), accepts that she “looks different,” and takes an opportunity to encourage nonconformity among Vogue’s beauty-minded readership. I don’t see it as self-aggrandizing. I also notice, going by the quotes excerpted in the post above, that she will answer questions about any public-facing work but graciously demurs when asked about her private affairs.
In any case, I’ll stan whatever makes Keanu Reeves happy in this life. 🙂
I’ve been adoring Mr. Reeves since The River’s Edge in 1986.
And i think she is dreamy, love her.
yeah, she’s an artist, and they are a bit batty, as a rule. But we need artists that are a bit batty in the world, they make it a more interesting place.
I’m with you Ariel. If i cant have him, I’m so happy he has this delightful human in his life. it just reinforces everything I’ve ever thought about him
She’s lived all over the world and her parents were professors. She’s intellectual and not ashamed of it obviously. And yeah she totally wants to marry him. Why not? They’re so cute together.
And speaking of hair color… I’m going to do my own for the first time ever. My stylist told me exactly what to order and I did. You’d think after watching someone else do it for years, I’d have no trouble doing it. I think I’ll FaceTime her for guidance and send her a check.
The hatred this woman receives online from unhinged women who think she is some kind of grifter scamming Keanu is utterly baffling. As are some of the conspiracy theories I’ve read from people who otherwise seem to be sane. Something about her is really triggering to his fans. You’d think they’d be happy that he seems to be happy but then again they are convinced he’s miserable & being stalked by her or forced into some kind of PR arrangement. Reminds me so much of the nutjobs who troll Harry & Meghan.
You’ve probably seen some of the same posters I have. They’re insane. They act like Keanu is some pathetic naif being taken for a ride By a scheming witch instead of a 55 year old man who can make up his own mind.
I love the blue dress.
uhm why shouldn’t she capitalize on her adjacent fame for her career? Being a creative is a really tough career path- and like everything else she will be paid less than her male peers. SO if she can gain some interest and some career momentum from her famous boyf good for her.
I like her. And I liked what I read of Neri Oxman when she was in the news for being linked to Brad Pitt. (Oxman had a baby girl with Bill Ackman last year (?)). Work is hard enough but to choose these artistic fields or whatever where someone or a lot of people is/are always questioning you and your work’s relevance is something to admire.