After decades of supreme privacy, last weekend Keanu Reeves made his big red carpet debut with his girlfriend, 46-year-old artist Alexandra Grant. Her rather uncanny resemblance to Helen Mirren made some on Twitter believe that Mirren and Reeves were actually an item. Mirren was asked by Entertainment Tonight what she thought of the mix-up. Mirren, who’s been married to director Taylor Hackford for 22 years, was, unsurprisingly, supremely pleasant about the whole thing.
“I saw that [on Twitter],” Mirren said. “That was very flattering on me, you know, because she’s obviously lovely.”
“I do know Keanu very well,” Mirren continued. “He did a film with my husband [1997’s The Devil’s Advocate] and he is just the most adorable, lovely person. So she’s a lucky girl and I’m sure that he’s a lucky boy.”
People reported earlier this week that Reeves and Grant had actually been dating in secret for months. The two had been friends for years and first collaborated in 2011 on his book Ode to Happiness.
A source told the outlet that “Keanu wants to openly share his life with her. He is extremely happy and grateful to have Alex in his life. [They] started dating earlier this year, but have wanted to keep it quiet.” The two attended two red carpet events this year in addition to this past weekend’s LACMA Art + Film Gala. They were at Saint Laurent’s fashion show in June and the MOCA Benefit in May.