Keanu donated 70 percent of his earnings
Keanu Reeves donated 70 percent of the proceeds from the first Matrix to leukemia research.
Keanu Reeves donated 70 percent of his earnings from the first, in a series of Matrix franchise films, made in 1999, to leukemia drug research experts.
He received $ 10 million in advance for making the movie, and under the contract, he also received a portion of the movies’ earnings, so he ultimately earned $ 35 million. Of that, Keanu decided to keep 30 percent and donate the rest.
Leukemia is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and they are called blasts or leukemia cells.
Diagnosis is typically made by blood tests or bone marrow biopsy. The exact cause of leukemia is yet unknown.
Keanu decided on a donation to research a drug for leukemia because his sister Kim had been battling the malignant disease for ten years. The actor was with his sister the whole time she was battling the disease until she eventually came into remission. Foreign media have previously reported that Keanu spent about five million dollars on various therapies to help his sister recover.
He founded a charity foundation
"She was always there for me. I will always be there for her," Keanu told earlier. More than ten years ago, Keanu founded a charity to help people battling cancer. He told the Ladies Home Journal in 2009 that he did not want to take credit for the foundation.
"I have a private foundation that has been operating for five or six years and helps in several children's hospitals and does cancer research. I don't like to tie my name to it, I just let the foundation do what it does," Keanu said at the time.
Recall, numerous tragedies followed him, but they have left no trace on him. Some people would be in depression and pulled down, but not him.
Keanu’s tragedies began to unfold from a young age, when he failed to finish high school due to a struggle with dyslexia and problematic behavior, although he changed three of them. They continued when he had to give up his hockey career due to an injury, which he adored but thanks to that he found himself in acting. But by the time he gained fame, he was left without a close colleague and friend River Phoenix who died of an overdose.
After River’s death, the actor had another difficult situation as his sister struggled with leukemia. As we said earlier, she won that battle, and Reeves showed how grateful he is by giving the millions he earns to hospitals specializing in just that disease.
New tragedies soon followed. He fell in love with colleague Jennifer Syme with whom he was expecting a child, a girl they decided to name Ava. Their joy over the birth was replaced by endless sadness when Jennifer had a miscarriage in the eighth month of her pregnancy. The couple had a hard time dealing with it and the tragedy ruined their relationship, so they broke up. They remained on good terms, but Jennifer died in a car accident on April 2, 2001.
