Alexandra Grant has opened up about her relationship with her boyfriend, Keanu Reeves.
On Friday 22 September, the 50-year-old artist attended the Los Angeles Beverly Arts Icon Awards without Reeves by her side as he was performing with his band Dogstar at the time. She said that it didn’t phase her whether or not she had to walk red carpets alone and it doesn’t affect the way she views her relationship.
“The good news about falling in love as an adult is that I had built my own career by the time that my relationship had begun,” she said in an interview with People. “I feel very confident in the relationship on the red carpet. I feel confident on it alone.”
“It’s interdependent and independent in the best ways,” Grant added.
The couple is known for having a largely private relationship. They first went public with their romance when they walked the red carpet while holding hands at the LACMA Art + Film Gala in November 2019. Since then, the couple have been seen together in Berlin, shopping in New York City, and attending a Broadway show together.
Most recently, Reeves and Grant were photographed together in Los Angeles while attending the MOCA Gala at the Museum of Contemporary Art in June 2022.
While the Matrix star and the visual artist made their relationship official more than three years ago, their friendship dates back more than a decade. Because of that foundational friendship, Grant says he’s able to push her creatively.
“In a moment of frustration in my life, I once said: ‘Sometimes I feel like a Maserati stuck in traffic,’ that I have this big engine, but, for a variety of reasons, that I couldn’t ever go,” she said. “And I know a lot of people feel frustrated in their lives, that they’re not able to run their engine.”
Grant continued: “I think every creative person feels that way.”
“What I love about Keanu and our exchange is that we’re pushing each other to build new roads,” she said. “Seeing the other person’s problem-solving is inspiring, like: ‘Oh, well, okay, this one, that’s a cul-de-sac. How do I try this other thing?’”
“He’s such an inspiration to me,” Grant continued. “He’s so creative, he’s so kind. He works so hard.”
And despite the two expressing their art using different mediums, Grant said that “storytelling” is their focus. “My work is much more of a private performance, but I have a text that I interpret in the studio into a painting, into an object,” she explained. “He takes the text in private and then turns it into a performance in public. There’s a relationship. We’re both at the heart readers and researchers. We both care about people and we care about characters.”
As for her art, Grant recalled that people have pointed out that her art looks “happier” since she began dating the actor.
“I had a studio visit a few years ago, and this very kind, very high-level person said: ‘I can see that your work has gotten happier,’” she told People. “That’s real. We’re all human beings. We’re animals. We’re expressing from where we are and certainly feeling happier. I think the work is happier.”
