Imagine this: Hollywood's resident Mr. Nice Guy Keanu Reeves as a young boy, perhaps pondering his future as an action-movie star, being watched over by none other than "No More Mr. Nice Guy" himself, Mr. Alice Cooper. Sounds like a plot twist from a Wachowskis movie, right?
Keanu Reeves, the half Chinese-Hawaiian, Beirut-born, Canadian-raised actor with a knack for back-bending bullet time, reportedly had an unexpected babysitter in his youth. Enter Alice Cooper, known as the "Godfather of Shock Rock" and famed for his theatrical live shows including that infamous chicken incident that never happened.
So, how did this odd pairing come to be?
In 2017, when Reeves was a guest on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," the "John Wick" star provided additional insight into his unusual childhood:
"I grew up in Toronto and I lived on a street called Hazleton and there was a recording studio there called Nimbus 9, and my mother was in costume design. She was in rock and roll in the business and they had friends and she had friends, and so Alice Cooper, I'm told, babysat me."
As detailed in this story from Distractify, Reeves' mother, Patricia Taylor, played a significant role in this unique pairing. Taylor was a British-born costume designer who was deeply ingrained in Hollywood and the rock 'n' roll scene, having worked with such big names as Dolly Parton and David Bowie.
While Reeves, 59, admitted to Fallon he was so small that he struggled to remember Cooper overseeing him — "I was, like, a little one" — he did recall one tidbit: "I remember that there was fake poo in the fridge. ... Like somehow, that connected like that."
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In an interview with Stereogum published in August 2023, Cooper, whose real name is Vincent Furnier, confirmed he did indeed babysit the future "Matrix" star during the 1970s while recording his debut solo album:
"We were making 'Welcome To My Nightmare' in Toronto. Instead of a hotel, I was staying at … [producer] Bob Ezrin had a friend that had a Victorian house right across the street, and they were from Hawaii. They had this little six-year-old kid that always wanted to come over to the studio, and his name was 'Ke.' He had black hair. He became our mascot. I would bring him over to the studio, and I'd say, 'Do you want to go get some ice cream?' 'Yeah, let's go get ice cream.' 'Okay.'
"Then he would come over, and we had a big black dog there, and he loved to play with the dog. But we absolutely sort of took him in as our mascot, and he loved being in the studio."
However, 76-year-old Cooper told Stereogum that it wasn't until five decades later, while watching "The Tonight Show," that he realized little "Ke," the boy he babysat, was Reeves.
"So I'm watching the Jimmy Fallon show, and they're interviewing [Keanu Reeves]. Jimmy Fallon pulls out a 'Welcome To My Nightmare' album. And he says, 'What does this mean to you?' And he goes, 'Oh yeah, well, Alice was my babysitter.' And I sat there, and I went, 'What?' And then I thought, 'Ke, Keanu. Oh my gosh.' I had no idea. And then I realized it was him. I used to babysit John Wick."