Keanu Reeves - Personal Life and Other Interests

Personal Life and Other Interests

For nearly a decade following his initial rise to stardom, Reeves preferred to live in rental houses and hotels. He was a long-term resident of the Chateau Marmont. Reeves bought his first house in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles around 2003. He also has an apartment on Central Park West in New York City.

He is a U.S. citizen through his American father, and also holds Canadian citizenship by naturalization; he grew up as a Canadian and identifies as such. Due to April 2003 changes in the law, he is entitled to British citizenship through his English mother. Reeves has never married. In December 1999, his girlfriend, Jennifer Syme, gave birth in her eighth month of pregnancy to a stillborn daughter, Ava Archer Syme-Reeves. Syme died in 2001, the sole passenger in an automobile wreck. Reeves, who had to begin shooting back-to-back Matrix sequels during the subsequent spring, was seeking "peace and time to deal with this," said his buddy Bret Domrose, who played guitar in Reeves's alternative rock band Dogstar.

Reeves was sued unsuccessfully in 2008 in Los Angeles Superior Court for $711,974 by paparazzo Alison Silva, for allegedly hitting and injuring him with his Porsche after visiting a relative at a Los Angeles medical facility. The paparazzo's lawsuit took a year and a half to make it to trial, during which time Silva continued to attack Reeves and demand payment. At the trial, all 12 jurors rejected the suit needing only an hour of deliberation to reach their verdict. With the lawsuit rejected, Reeves was cleared of all the charges.

Contrary to popular impression, Reeves is not Buddhist or an atheist, despite being frequently listed as either. He has claimed to be non-religious (which some sites interpreted to mean he was an atheist), but to have an intense interest in Buddhism. In 1997, he said, "Sure I believe in God and the Devil but they don't have to have pitchforks and a long white beard." His most recent comments on the subject of religion were in 2005, in which he stated: "I think personal and private. I like the flesh and blood aspect like I said earlier."

In 2010, photos posted on Reddit of a sad-looking Keanu Reeves eating a sandwich while alone led to the spread of the "Keanu is Sad/Sad Keanu" Internet meme and the declaration of June 15 as "Cheer-up Keanu Day" by a Facebook fanpage.

In 2011, Keanu wrote and published the "grown-up picture book" Ode to Happiness, with illustrations by Alexandra Grant. He had started work on the book prior to the Sad Keanu meme, and appearance of parody was but coincidental.