8th June, 2019
Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves has been the toast of social media for the past few days, with posts commending him for various good deeds, despite suffering some personal tragedies off-screen in the past.
Even in Twitter Nigeria, the 54 year-old actor was trending on Saturday.
It was not clear what provoked the tweets and the memes that followed. But recently Reeves
in an appearance on “The Late Show” to promote “John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum,” was asked Stephen Colbert what he thought happens after we die.
In a report by New Yorker, Reeves who was wearing a dark suit and tie, in the vein of a sensitive mafioso, paused for a moment, then answered, with some care, “I know that the ones who love us will miss us.” The response has gone viral since.
Another report by the epochtimes.com revealed Reeves secret philanthropy where he finances children’s hospitals.
“Few people are as acquainted with loss as Hollywood superstar Keanu Reeves. Despite all of his success on the big screen in films such as “The Matrix,” “Speed,” and “John Wick,” the 54-year-old actor’s off-screen life can aptly be described as tragic”, the newspaper reported.
“However, he’s made it his life mission not to let these tragedies deter him from giving back and helping others as much as possible.
“When Keanu Reeves was only 3 years old, his father left his family. Keanu spent his teenage years at four different high schools while struggling with dyslexia.
“He eventually graduated but lost his best friend at the age of 23 to a drug overdose, his first child to a miscarriage, and the love of his life to a car accident. When it seemed like things couldn’t get any worse for Keanu, his sister was also diagnosed with leukemia.
“Thankfully, his sister recovered, and Keanu dedicated his life to helping others. The internet is resplendent with stories of his generosity.
“One Reddit user, bo2dd2, explained: “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 [expletive] who always think they are better than us. Keanu on the other hand, at the very least, was socially approachable and definitely kindhearted.”
“This is just one story amongst hundreds, but Keanu is not the type of guy who makes a habit of turning his generosity into a public relations stunt. He does not need to be recognized for his charity, as evidenced in a revelation that he has been secretly financing children’s hospitals.
“According to Snopes, in 2009 he told the Ladies’ Home Journal: “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. I don’t like to attach my name to it; I just let the foundation do what it does.”
“In addition, Reeves has also donated to SCORE (Spinal Cord Opportunities for Rehabilitation Endowment), a charity founded after a UCLA hockey player’s spinal cord was crushed in a post-season game. The actor was even spotted manning the phones at a Stand Up to Cancer telethon in 2008”.