Actor attempts to justify unusual ceremony: ‘You can do it in Catholic courts or other courts … we didn’t even know there was marriage’
Ace Ventura star Keanu Reeves, 52, has revealed he got married under the eyes of God during his teenage years. The actor said the idea came about after he met actress Winona Ryder, now 39, at a religious retreat.
“Winona and I went to a church retreat where we grew up and made a deal,” Reeves told the Los Angeles Times. “We’d get married for real if we had any children. We didn’t, so we did it.”
“Of course, neither of us knew that we were going to be married in the eyes of God,” he added. “It was just Winona and me in a room, with God looking down on us and directing our steps.”
The couple revealed they got married secretly in the late 1980s. “You can do it in Catholic courts or other courts, but we didn’t even know there was marriage,” said Reeves. “So we thought, ‘Why don’t we just do it under the stars?’”
The actor was 19 and Ryder 17 when they wed and says the ceremony took place under the stars under a starry sky. “I don’t remember a whole lot about it, other than just walking down the aisle,” she said. “I can’t really remember too much of it. I remember a lovey-dovey scene we had in the backyard in all white.”
Reeves and Ryder, who met through a mutual friend, went on to star together in Edward Scissorhands, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. They dated from 1989 until 1992 before reuniting to co-star in the 2005 cult film Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which also featured Winona’s mother, Barbara Ricketts.
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Both noted their relationship began before they worked together. “I met her at a party and met Keanu,” said Ryder. “We were just teenagers, and we didn’t see each other a lot. I think that actually probably saved us.”
The pair have been embroiled in their own love life for several years.
Ryder has previously been linked to the Colin Farrell and Johnny Depp parties. She was later engaged to musician Billy Corgan and was briefly married to Christian Clancy from 1992 to 1996.
Ryder claimed last week that her long-running relationship with Depp, 49, began while they were on the set of hit role Edward Scissorhands in 1990. The couple split after a six-year relationship and parted ways amicably.