No simulation here: Keanu Reeves and Alexandra Grant started off as creative collaborators and the romance that blossomed is the real deal.

We’re still not sure if those were squeals of delight or howls of mourning when it became clear that Keanu Reeves was off the market.

But whichever reaction you identify with, finding out that the super-private actor had been love-pilled courtesy of visual artist Alexandra Grant was invariably good news.

“It’s been really wonderful to be with Alexandra,” Reeves, who’s turning an ageless 60 on Sept. 2, told Parade in August 2020, confirming he and his girlfriend of an undisclosed span of time had been riding out the pandemic together. “We enjoy each other’s company, you know, whatever that may be. Once the beaches opened up, we went for a motorcycle ride, and we have a couple of projects.”

While he and Grant didn’t appear on a red carpet together until November 2019, alerting the world to their coupling in the process—”I think every single person I knew called me in the first week of November,” Grant told British Vogue, “and that’s fascinating”—they met at a dinner party back in 2009.

Soon after, they collaborated on the 2011 book Ode to Happiness, featuring a sardonic poem by Reeves and Grant’s illustrations.

Jojo Korsh/BFA.com/Shutterstock

“The book was made as a surprise, by me, for Keanu, as a private gift,” the Ohio native told British Vogue in March 2020. “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.”

A few years after that, they released Shadows, for which Grant photographed Reeves “at times as a silhouette and at others as traces of light as he and the camera move together,” according to publisher Steidl, and he wrote the text “in tandem with the creation of the images.”

Now, we’re not art critics or anything, but that sounds like an intimate process.

They enjoyed teaming up so much, they started their own Los Angeles-based publishing outfit, X Artists’ Books, in 2017. And, you know, they fell in love.

“Not that we’re reinventing anything,” Reeves told the New York Times‘ T Magazine in 2018. “But the idea of a quality book is definitely our ambition.”

The man who once looked as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders while eating a sandwich offered no further details about his partner in the venture, but the article noted that Reeves and Grant made most business decisions together—”I love me a good book,” he noted—while she ran the day-to-day.

Allison Dinner/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Grant’s friend Jennifer Tilly, meanwhile, pinpointed 2018 as when she first found out that her pal was dating Reeves.

“It’s really astonishing to me how in the last five months, all of a sudden, she goes to an event with him and everybody goes insane, like, ‘It’s his new girlfriend,’ because she had gone to a lot of events with him,” the actress told Page Six in February 2020. “It’s just suddenly surfaced that he’s been dating her for several years.”

Tilly continued, “I saw him at her last art opening, and he’s not, like, wanting the spotlight, because he’s a really low-key guy, too, and I think why everybody went crazy is that they’re sort of the perfect couple…It’s not a razzle-dazzle Hollywood romance.”

Alas, the pandemic would soon put a halt to sightings of everyone for awhile, let alone red carpet date nights for enigmatic movie stars.

But once the world opened up, Reeves and Grant re-emerged as an intact pair, cozily doing their thing behind the scenes and making the occasional scene in style—their presence all the more striking because they both stand at a statuesque 6-foot-1.

They also share a tendency toward profundity, Reeves known for his Zen-like musings and his partner apparently just as reflective.

“Love at every level is deeply important to my identity,” Grant told British Vogue, acknowleding that she was “dodging” a question about whether she was interested in marriage. “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.”

Alberto Rodriguez/Shutterstock

As does Reeves, who told Parade in 2006, “Much of my appreciation of life has come through loss. Life is precious. It’s worthwhile.”

Quizzed about his most recent moment of bliss in March 2023, Reeves—who most definitely does not take the here-and-now for granted—shared that it had occurred in bed with “my honey” a few days beforehand.

“We were connected,” he told People. “We were smiling and laughing and giggling. Feeling great. It was just really nice to be together.”

And Grant, 51, obviously appreciates what her boyfriend is bringing to the table, as well.

“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 told People in September 2023. “I feel very confident in the relationship on the red carpet. I feel confident on it alone.”

Describing their partnership as “interdependent and dependent in the best ways,” Grant added, “He’s such an inspiration to me. He’s so creative, he’s so kind. He works so hard.”

And we think it most excellent that Reeves has such a kindred spirit in his corner.

But while they’re enjoying their own private romance, there are some lovely pictures tracing the public portion of their story, including that sweet November:

Pierre Suu/GC Images

2009

Keanu Reeves and Alexandra Grant originally met at a dinner party in 2009, according to New York Times T Magazine. The John Wick star and the artist went on to collaborate on two books together, 2011’s Ode to Happiness and the 2016 series Shadows. The pair also co-founded the publisher X Artists’ Books in 2017.

David M. Benett/Getty Images

June 2016

The duo attend the UNAIDS Gala during Art Basel 2016, but no one seemed to catch on at the time.

“It’s really astonishing to me how in the last five months, all of a sudden, she goes to an event with him and everybody goes insane, like, ‘It’s his new girlfriend,’ because she had gone to a lot of events with him,” Alexandra’s friend Jennifer Tilly told Page Six in February 2020. “It’s just suddenly surfaced that he’s been dating her for several years.”

Matt Baron/Shutterstock

June 2019

The couple attended a Saint Laurent fashion show in Malibu together and held hands in front of photographers, though their low-key outing still didn’t make headlines…

Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for LACMA

November 2019

Keanu and Alexandra’s romantic relationship did not fully capture the interest of the public until they walked the red carpet hand-in-hand at the 2019 LACMA Art + Film Gala. Alexandra later shared that she never expected their first official appearance as a couple to go viral.

“I think every single person I knew called me in the first week of November, and that’s fascinating,” she recalled to Vogue in March 2020. “But the question I’ve been asking in all of this is: ‘What is the opportunity for good?'”

Robin L Marshall/Getty Images

June 2022

The couple only had eyes for each other when they attended the 2022 MOCA Gala in Los Angeles, which marked their  first red carpet appearance in three years.

Rob Latour/Shutterstock

April 2023

Keanu and Alexandra engaged in a rare moment of PDA, sharing a kiss on the red carpet when they attended the 2023 MOCA Gala April 15. Excellent!

Their public smooch came just after Keanu shared rare insight into their relationship, the Speed actor telling a sweet story after he was asked about his last moment of bliss.

“A couple of days ago with my honey,” he recently told People. “We were in bed. We were connected. We were smiling and laughing and giggling. Feeling great. It was just really nice to be together.”