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Well Being

The touching reason why Keanu Reeves donated 70% of his 'Matrix' salary to cancer research

keanu reeves, keanu reeves charity, cancer

Keanu reeves in São Paulo, Brazil.

“The Matrix” (1999) directed by the Wachowskis, was one of the biggest box-office hits of the ‘90s. It changed the course of cinema by being one of the first films to create a credible cinematic world that exists in the digital realm.

The special effects and action sequences were also groundbreaking at the time. The slow-motion “bullet-time” effects would become a hallmark of action films for the next 20 years.

The film’s success made its lead actor, Keanu Reeves, a very rich man. The actor made a $10 million salary for appearing in the film and received $35 million on the back end.


But instead of pocketing the generational wealth, he donated 70% of it to fund leukemia research. Reeves’ sister, Kim, was diagnosed with cancer in 1991 and battled it for 10 years, before going into remission.

He also sold his home to be closer to his sister and spent $5 million in therapies to help her recover. Reeves was the primary caretaker for his sister while she was sick, he cooked her meals, cleaned the house and prepared her medication.

He dedicated his life to being a cancer caretaker as his career as a leading man was skyrocketing.

His dedication to his sister meant that “The Matrix”’s first two sequels had to be delayed.

“She was always there for me, you know. I will always be here for her,” he said.

The siblings have a close bond forged by a tough childhood. Their father walked out on the family when Reeves was just 2 and later served time for drug possession. The children were raised by their mother and they moved frequently, living in Canada, Australia, New York and Hawaii.

Reeves created a charity foundation to help those fighting cancer, although he doesn’t want any of the credit. “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,” he said, according to The Mercury News.

“I don't like to attach my name to it, I just let the foundation do what it does,” he added.

Reeves is also very generous with his coworkers. He reportedly gave a significant amount of the back-end profits he made from “The Matrix” films to the visual effects artists and costume designers, although that was apparently more an in-kind donation to the production of the films, and not literally a cash payout to crew members and some have claimed.

Reeves’ nomadic life as an artist has led him to the understanding that true happiness doesn’t come from accumulating wealth and material objects, but learning how to appreciate what you have already.

“That enormous sense of gratitude is enough for me–I don’t need to surround myself with a lot of objects and possessions to feel that way,” he said according to the Mirror. “It’s always nice to open your eyes every morning and see the world–it all seems so simple! That’s why I frequently use an expression that I like very much, and which gives me peace of mind: ‘I’m happy to be here.’”

Keanu, we’re pretty happy you’re here, too.

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ACUVUE launches a new campaign to inspire Gen Z to put down their phones and follow their vision

What will you create on your social media break? Share it at #MyVisionMySight.

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If you’ve always lived in a world with social media, it can be tough to truly understand how it affects your life. One of the best ways to grasp its impact is to take a break to see what life is like without being tethered to your phone and distracted by a constant stream of notifications.

Knowing when to disconnect is becoming increasingly important as younger people are becoming aware of the adverse effects screen time can have on their eyes. According to Eyesafe Nielsen, adults are now spending 13-plus hours a day on their digital devices, a 35% increase from 2019.1. Many of us now spend more time staring at screens on a given day than we do sleeping which can impact our eye health.

Normally, you blink around 15 times per minute, however, focusing your eyes on computer screens or other digital displays have been shown to reduce your blink rate by up to 60%.2 Reduced blinking can destabilize your eyes’ tear film, causing dry, tired eyes and blurred vision.3

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18-year-old took her college savings and bought the restaurant where she was a dishwasher

Samantha Frye, the newest owner of Rosalie's restaurant, is proving there's more than one way to invest in your future.

Canva

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Eighteen year old Samantha Frye has traded college life for entrepreneurship, and she has no regrets.

Frye began working at Rosalie's Restaurant in Strasburg, Ohio at 16 as a dishwasher, working up the ranks as a kitchen prep, server, then line cook. All while working a second job, sometimes third job.

After graduating high school, Frye started college at Ohio State with plans of studying business or environmental engineering. But when she came back to work a shift at Rosalie’s for winter break, an opportunity arose—the owners had planned to sell the restaurant.
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Man rewatches shows from his childhood and his recaps of the bonkers storylines are priceless

Rob Anderson's hilarious recaps of shows like "Mighty Ducks," "Beethoven," and "7th Heaven" might make you wonder how they got made in the first place.

@hearthrobert/TikTok

These plots makes zero sense.

While there are no doubt some timeless classics from our childhood that remain every bit as amazing as we remember, many are straight-up cringey upon a later viewing. Really, it’s to be expected as societal viewpoints change…sort of a marker of how far we’ve collectively come.

And so, what do we do with these problematic pieces of old-school pop culture? Well, we can certainly update them to better reflect a more modern attitude, but that also comes with a set of potential problems. Or we could simply never watch them again. Certainly an option given all the content out there. But then we might miss an opportunity to better understand what seemed to work for the mainstream then, and why it doesn’t work now.

And then there’s the third option—allow ourselves to be entertained by their cringiness.

That’s certainly the route taken by Rob Anderson. Over on TikTok, Anderson has taken ultra-popular movies and television shows from his childhood and given them hilarious recaps capturing how absurd some of the storylines are.
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Some moments never get old.

On November 19, 1999, a man named John Carpenter made game show history and quite possibly gave us all the greatest game show moment of all time.

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Woman decides that she is the love of her life and marries herself at her retirement home

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We joke about marrying ourselves or a platonic friend if some arbitrary amount of time has passed without a proposal from an imaginary suitor. And sure, some people do wind up marrying a friend in more of a business arrangement, but it's not very common that someone follows through with marrying themselves.

Dorothy "Dottie" Fideli, decided that she was going to break the mold. The 77-year-old sat down and thought about all of the things she had done in life and who was with her the entire time cheering her on. It was an easy answer: herself. She was her biggest cheerleader, the person who always showed up and the love of her life, so Fideli made the plan to marry herself.

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12-year-old Texas girl saves her family from carbon monoxide poisoning

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A little girl in Fort Worth, Texas, experienced a terrifying encounter with the deadly gas, but her quick actions saved her entire family. Jaziyah Parker is being held up as a hero after she realized something was wrong with her family members and called for help.

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Drew Barrymore speaks during the FLOWER Beauty launch at Westfield Parramatta on April 13, 2019, in Sydney, Australia.

Drew Barrymore, 48, has been in the public consciousness since she starred as Gertie in 1982’s mega-blockbuster, “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” a performance that earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. So, it makes sense that many people of a certain age feel as if they’ve grown up with her.

Barrymore has consistently starred in hit films and movies that are rewatchable cable-TV staples, such as “Charlie's Angels” (2000), “Never Been Kissed” (1999), “Scream” (1996), “The Wedding Singer” (1998), “50 First Dates” (2004) and “Fever Pitch” (2005).

Now, she’s an even more significant part of people’s lives as the host of “The Drew Barrymore Show,” which runs every weekday on CBS. So far, the show has been a big success, attracting an average of 1.21 million views per show, and ranks as the #4 talk show in syndication. It was recently renewed through the 2024 season.

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