Keanu: childhood, youth and the moments of glory. Book #1. Yevgeniya Sikhimbayeva
youth and the moments of glory. Book #1
Yevgeniya Sikhimbayeva
Arkadiy Novikov
© Yevgeniya Sikhimbayeva, 2021
© Arkadiy Novikov, 2021
ISBN 978-5-0053-1098-9 (т. 1)
ISBN 978-5-0053-1099-6
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
Childhood and youth
«I don’t really know what my raw essence is. I guess one thing is I’m not really good with authority. When people in school kept trying to tell me where I could go and what I could do, it infuriated me. I know that when I don’t feel free and can’t go where I want, I react. I just go against it»
Let us take as an indisputable fact that Keanu Charles Reeves was born (at least in this reincarnation of his own) in the city of Beirut, which is located in Lebanon. (Lebanon is a state in the Middle East, located in a mountainous area on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Syria in the east and north, and Israel in the south. The country’s symbol, the Lebanese cedar – is depicted both on the flag and on the state emblem… Do not worry, I also had to devote some time searching on the map – where is it?)
Actually, Keanu almost didn’t live in Beirut at all – his parents simply met there – Patricia Taylor and Samuel Reeves.
Keanu himself, especially in early interviews, spoke: («Guess my parents had been doing their thing in the Middle East»1)
According to some sources, Keanu’s father worked here as a geologist, and his mother danced in a nightclub (or vice versa). According to another version, Keanu’s mother studied at a local university (there is one, and not just one), and his father burned his life and indulged in all sorts of substances that expand consciousness (or vice versa). Anyway, they were very creative people. If you believe the recollections of eyewitnesses, Keanu’s father, having received an inheritance after the death of his stepfather, got one of the first Jaguar XKE cars.
In violet color. His mother, an Englishwoman, had already at the time a strong personality (there was a reason that she was more often called the male name Patrick than the female – Patricia), and at that time she preferred cowboy boots, blue jeans and mink coats. True, such creativity was not very welcomed by the locals, and even a few times the couple were thrown stones at. However, Beirut was never a particularly safe place to live, but it was a very convenient transit point for all kinds of playboys and hippies moving to the East in search of enlightenment. Although this however does not matter.
The important thing is that the sixties were really some special time. Perhaps the Earth passed through some special energy stream. Just take a look – how many talented songs, poems, other works of art – and people were born in these years! Here are just the stars of Hollywood and its environs: Crispin Glover (1964); Johnny Depp (1963); River Phoenix (1970); Tom Cruise (1962); Brad Pitt (1963); Robert Downey Jr. (1965); Sean Penn (1960); Rob Lowe (1964); Hugh Jackman (1968); Alex Winter (1965)…
Oh, and Keanu Reeves of course.
He was born in September, when, according to one of the modern classics, «the time of the wind and ripe grapes» sets in. Therefore, he was named respectively – his name is the Hawaiian word used to describe the first cool breezes that descend from the mountains. (It s Hawaiian. It was my great, great uncle’s name. It means ’cool breeze over the mountains’ … I’ve got a cousin who has the same name.2) From his biological father, who was the first of his mother’s four husbands, Keanu received in addition to his first name a surname – and an exotic appearance.
By the way – according to the horoscope he is Virgo. Believing in horoscopes is a separate issue. But still:
They are known as the «perfectionists» of the zodiac. They have strong mental energy and ability to communicate. They tend to have a gentle female personality; soft and caring.
(TOP 10 REASONS WHY VIRGO IS THE BEST ZODIAC SIGN; JANUARY 10, 2017 ASTROLOGY & LIFE)
Does it match? – Perhaps yes.
Keanu was only six months old when the family moved to Australia, where his sister Kim was born, then they went to New York, to Manhattan – Upper West Side. They also did not live there for long, and when Keanu was five years old (or six, or maybe even seven), his mother finally broke up with his father and settled with two children in Toronto, Canada, deciding that this is a good place to to raise children. And indeed, Toronto was then a quiet, almost provincial city, where children could safely play on the street at least until midnight. In addition, her relatives lived here in Canada. The family was not poor – Keanu granny’s second husband, Canadian Colman Abrahams, became rich by producing encyclopedias for children development and investing in real estate. But the main concern for the well-being of the children was on the mother’s shoulders.
Patricia made her living by designing costumes for rock stars, such as Emmila Harris and Dolly Parton. Because of the mother’s profession, Halloween has always been an exceptional holiday because children have always had the coolest costumes: I’d always get a cool costume. One year, I was Dracula, another year, I was Batman and my sister was Robin. Once, my mother made me a Cousin It costume from The Addams Family. I wore a giant wig. It rained and I got wet. I looked just like a big bowl of pasta!3.
Alice Cooper was also among Patricia’s clients, and when the singer recorded the album «Welcome to My Nightmare» in Toronto, he stayed in the house where the family lived, and even babysat Keanu. Well, more like, the musicians rehearsed, and the future star of the rock band Dogstar listened reverently, hanging around somewhere nearby. There was something for both to remember.. «Alice Cooper stayed at our house. I remember he brought fake vomit and fake dog poo to terrorise the housekeeper.4» Life turned out differently, at some times there were a nanny for children and an au pair in the house, and at other times I had to buy discounted food. It was a bourgeois existence with pretensions to more, but with less, if you know what I mean.5»
So Keanu did not have any serene and happy childhood, which can be remembered sentimentally.
He, politically correct, «grew up in a troubled family.» «I’m one of those kids without a dad. Sure. It’s the classic story». However, Keanu was still lucky – his mother turned out to be a strong and lively woman, although she did not lose hope of somehow arranging her own personal life. So Keanu had three stepfathers. One of them will play a very significant role in his life – but more to follow.
In the meantime, I will utter out loud a politically incorrect, but, alas, axiom:
DIVORCE – ALWAYS A TRAGEDY FOR CHILDREN
Naturally the reasons behind the impossibility of further coexistence can be plentiful and some are understandable, domestic violence for example. But it’s all the same extremes, and so – yes, a lot depends on how civilized the divorce is… but the scars remain the same. Of various sizes, depths, healing rates… but everything is no longer going as intended – and sometimes it breaks down life very seriously. Parting with his father was very difficult for Keanu and it predetermined his fate for years and decades to come… but that will come later.
In the meantime, he is only a child, experiencing a breakup with one of the most important people in his life. Those who knew him from life in Canada talk about a serious, shy and angry teenager with a huge inferiority complex, who is practically unable to establish normal relations with his peers. Everything was so serious that it came down to a visit
«Off Camera»; Playboy (US), September, 1988
«Reeves’ Edge» by John Griffiths; t&b (US), January 1, 1989
«Keanu – in his own words» by Janis Hawkridge; Dolly (Aus.), November 1995
«Keanu – in his own words» by Janis Hawkridge; Dolly (Aus.), November 1995
«Whoa, Dude!» by Karen Moline; Elle (UK), October 1991