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03rd Jan 2022

Keanu Reeves donated 70% of his salary from The Matrix to leukaemia research

Charlie Herbert

Just when you thought you couldn’t love Keanu Reeves anymore

Keanu Reeves has already earned himself a reputation as one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, if not the world, and it’s for reasons exactly like this.

The John Wick and Matrix star, who is thought to be worth a staggering £275 million, has never let fame and fortune change him and has often used his wealth and earnings to help others out.

So when he starred in the massively successful The Matrix in 1999, he decided to donate 70 percent of his salary from the film to leukaemia research, the Mirror reports.

This was after his younger sister Kim was diagnosed with the disease in 1991. Keanu put his life on hold to care for her, becoming her main carer in the early 1990s, and even decided to sell his house so he could move closer to her.

Kim fought the disease for 10 years before entering remission. Keanu has previously said of his sister: “She was always there for me, you know. I will always be here for her.”

He was reportedly paid $10million upfront and earned $35million total for the first Matrix film in the franchise in 1999, and was inspired by his sister’s battle to donate more than two thirds of his salary to charity.

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Reeves didn’t stop there either, creating a charity to support people and children living with cancer, which he didn’t attach his name to.

He has rarely spoken much about the charity, because he doesn’t want his celebrity status to be associated with it. He told Ladies Home Journal in 2009: “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.

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

Last October, it was revealed that Reeves gifted his John Wick 4 four-man stunt team Rolex Submariner watches valued at $9,150 each.

The guy is just incomprehensibly nice.