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Jennifer Syme

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Jennifer Syme
Born
Jennifer Maria Syme

(1972-12-07)December 7, 1972
Pico Rivera, California, U.S.
DiedApril 2, 2001(2001-04-02) (aged 28)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Burial placeWestwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California
Occupation(s)Actress, personal assistant, record company executive
Years active1993–2001
PartnerKeanu Reeves (1998–2000, 2001)
Children1[a]

Jennifer Maria Syme (December 7, 1972 – April 2, 2001)[1] was an American actress, personal assistant, and record company executive.

She was in a relationship with actor Keanu Reeves that began in 1998 and ended in early 2000, following the stillbirth of their daughter. On April 2, 2001, Syme died in an automobile collision at the age of 28, shortly after she and Reeves had reunited.[2]

Early life and career

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Syme was born in Pico Rivera, California,[3] and was raised in Laguna Beach.[4] Her parents were Maria St. John and Charles Syme, a retired California highway patrol officer,[4] and they divorced some time after Syme was born.[4]

When Syme was about to start high school, she and her mother moved to Los Angeles, where Syme developed a passion for moviemaking and especially for David Lynch's films.[4] Actor and filmmaker Scott Coffey said that Syme was 16 years old when she walked into Lynch's office. "She was a huge fan and wanted to do anything on Twin Peaks", Coffey said.[4] Syme landed a job at Lynch's company, Asymmetrical Productions, where she started as an intern and ended up working for five years.[4][5] She introduced Lynch to many of the musicians he used in his projects, and according to Coffey, she had a huge influence on the music in the 1997 film Lost Highway.[4]

Syme also did some acting, and Scott Coffey directed her in five independent short films. The last one, Ellie Parker, was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2001.[4] Syme later joined the staff of a music label.[3] She was also a personal assistant to guitarist Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction and, later, the Red Hot Chili Peppers.[6]

In 1997, Syme made her film debut in a small role credited as "junkie girl" in David Lynch's Lost Highway.[7][8]

Syme had a small role credited as "casting chick" in Scott Coffey's film Ellie Parker, released in 2005,[9] reprising the role she played in the 2001 short film of the same title.[4][10]

At the time of her death in 2001, Syme had enrolled in a film-supervision course at UCLA,[4] and was working as a record company executive.[11][12][2]

Personal life

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According to reports, Syme met actor Keanu Reeves in 1998 at a party thrown for Reeves's rock band, Dogstar, and they started dating.[5] However, Syme's mother, Maria St. John, disputed the reports and said the two had known each other for a decade, and that she was with Syme when she met Reeves, and it was not at a party.[4]

On December 24, 1999, after eight months of pregnancy, she gave birth to her child with Reeves, who was stillborn.[13] Syme's and Reeves's grief over the loss put a strain on their relationship, which ended several weeks later.[14][7] They remained close friends after their breakup and were back together in 2001.[2]

St. John said that Syme became very depressed when her grandfather, Alfonso Diaz, died in March 2001. Her mother noted that it was the first time she had been back to the hospital since her baby died.[4]

Marilyn Manson mentioned Syme and how she helped him work with director David Lynch in his 1998 memoir The Long Hard Road Out of Hell,[15] and later depicted her in a painting called "A Mother Without a Daughter and a Daughter Without a Mother (In Memory of Jen)".[16][17]

Death

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On the night of April 1, 2001, Syme attended a party at the home of musician Marilyn Manson. After being driven home by another party guest shortly before dawn the following morning, she left her home, reportedly to return to the party.[18] She drove her Jeep Grand Cherokee into a row of parked cars on Cahuenga Boulevard in Los Angeles. She was partially ejected from the vehicle and died instantly. She was 28 years old.[19][2] Keanu Reeves,[2] Dave Navarro,[18] Scott Coffey,[4] Anthrax's guitarist Scott Ian,[4] and David Lynch[18] acted as pallbearers at Syme's funeral.[2] Syme was eulogized to the sound of Barbra Streisand's "Higher Ground" and Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings" as Lynch screened a series of snapshots from Syme's life at the Good Shepherd Church in Beverly Hills.[4] She was buried next to her daughter at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.[20] David Lynch dedicated his 2001 film Mulholland Drive to Syme in the closing credits.[18]

An investigation into the collision found that Syme was not wearing a seatbelt. Police found two rolled-up dollar bills that contained a white, powdery substance, and two bottles of prescription drugs: a muscle relaxant and an anticonvulsant.[18] Syme's mother told police her daughter had recently sought treatment for back pain from an earlier automobile collision, and for depression stemming from her daughter's stillbirth.[18]

While Syme and Keanu Reeves had broken up shortly after the stillbirth of their daughter, Reeves told investigators that they were back together.[18] On April 1, 2001, they had brunch together at Crepes on Cole in San Francisco. The next day, Reeves called the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office and asked, according to Lt. Mac Willie, "if Jen Syme was there."[2]

In April 2002, Syme's mother, Maria St. John, sued Marilyn Manson for wrongful death, for giving Syme "various quantities of an illegal controlled substance"[21] and for "instructing [Syme] to operate a motor vehicle in her incapacitated condition".[22] Manson denied responsibility, stating that the lawsuit was "completely without merit".[23][22] The case was dismissed at St. John's request in May 2003.[24]

Filmography

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Actress

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  • Lost Highway (1997) - Junkie Girl
  • Ellie Parker (2001) - Casting Chick (short film)
  • Ellie Parker (2005) - Casting Chick (posthumous credit, final film role)

Production assistant

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References

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  1. ^ "Jennifer Syme". Zimbio. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Schneider, Karen S. (April 23, 2001). "Too Much Sorrow. Keanu Reeves Mourns His Former Girlfriend, Who Never Recovered from the Loss of Their Child". People. Archived from the original on November 20, 2012.
  3. ^ a b "Jennifer Syme, Keanu Reeves & Their Daughter – A Tragic Story". Rocks Off. August 20, 2021. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Daly, Sean (April 23, 2001). "Keanu Grieves for His Soul Mate, Jennifer". US Weekly. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021.
  5. ^ a b Taylor, Trey (September 20, 2018). "Hollyweird: The Strange, Tragic Death of Jennifer Syme". Paper. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  6. ^ "Who Was Jennifer Syme, Keanu Reeves' Late Ex-Girlfriend?". TheThings. September 17, 2021. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Reeves keeps to himself after ex-girlfriend's death". Houston Chronicle. AFP. April 5, 2001. Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  8. ^ "Lost Highway (1997)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  9. ^ "Ellie Parker (2005)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  10. ^ Kipp, Jeremiah (November 7, 2005). "Review: Ellie Parker". Slant Magazine. Archived from the original on November 24, 2021. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  11. ^ "Keanu's Ex Killed in Crash". ABC News. April 4, 2001. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  12. ^ "Car smash kills Keanu's girlfriend". BBC News. April 5, 2001. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  13. ^ Gethin, Chamberlain (January 12, 2000). "Keanu's lover loses her baby". Daily Record. Archived from the original on November 24, 2021. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  14. ^ Page, Cara (March 4, 2000). "Keanu and girlfriend split after baby's death". Daily Record. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  15. ^ Manson, Marilyn (1998). The Long Hard Road out of Hell. HarperCollins. p. 239. ISBN 978-0-06-098746-6.
  16. ^ "Marilyn Manson Artwork Online – Originals: A daughter without a mother and a mother without a daughter". Nachtkabarett. Archived from the original on November 28, 2021. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  17. ^ "Moederzoekers". See All This (in Dutch). May 2016. Archived from the original on November 28, 2021. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g Vineyard, Jennifer (April 3, 2002). "Marilyn Manson Accused Of Contributing To Friend's Death". MTV. Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  19. ^ "Film Notes: Keanu Reeves' Girlfriend Killed". ABC News. April 5, 2001. Archived from the original on January 29, 2011. Retrieved November 29, 2009.
  20. ^ Fleming, E.J. (2015). Hollywood Death and Scandal Sites: Seventeen Driving Tours with Directions and the Full Story (2nd ed.). McFarland. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-7864-9644-0.
  21. ^ "Manson, Minnelli Star In L.A. Law". The Smoking Gun. May 12, 2011. Archived from the original on September 17, 2007. Retrieved November 1, 2007.
  22. ^ a b Vineyard, Jennifer (April 9, 2002). "Manson May Fight Wrongful Death Suit With Countersuit". MTV. Archived from the original on May 13, 2005. Retrieved November 29, 2009.
  23. ^ "Marilyn Manson denies crash claim". BBC News. April 8, 2002. Archived from the original on October 15, 2013. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  24. ^ "MARIA ST. JOHN, ETC., VS BRIAN WARNER, ETC., ET AL". Unicourt. Retrieved October 29, 2024.

Notes

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  1. ^ Stillborn.
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