Jennifer Syme

Syme was born in Pico Rivera, California,{{Cite web |date=August 20, 2021 |title=Jennifer Syme, Keanu Reeves & Their Daughter – A Tragic Story |url=https://www.rocksoffmag.com/jennifer-syme-mother-of-keanu-reeves-daughter/ |website=Rocks Off |access-date=October 22, 2021 |archive-date=October 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022194515/https://www.rocksoffmag.com/jennifer-syme-mother-of-keanu-reeves-daughter/ |url-status=live }} and was raised in Laguna Beach.{{Cite web |last=Daly |first=Sean |date=April 23, 2001 |title=Keanu Grieves for His Soul Mate, Jennifer. |url=http://www.whoaisnotme.net/articles/2001_0423_ree.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211121230752/http://www.whoaisnotme.net/articles/2001_0423_ree.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2021-11-21 |website=US Weekly}} Her parents were Maria St. John and Charles Syme, a retired California highway patrol officer, and they divorced some time after Syme was born.

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. 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. Syme landed a job at Lynch's company, Asymmetrical Productions, where she started as an intern and ended up working for five years.{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=Trey |date=September 20, 2018 |title=Hollyweird: The Strange, Tragic Death of Jennifer Syme |url=https://www.papermag.com/jennifer-syme-keanu-reeves-2606619318.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1 |website=Paper |access-date=October 22, 2021 |archive-date=October 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022190209/https://www.papermag.com/jennifer-syme-keanu-reeves-2606619318.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1 |url-status=live }} 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.

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. Syme later joined the staff of a music label. She was also a personal assistant to guitarist Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction and, later, the Red Hot Chili Peppers.{{Cite web |date=September 17, 2021 |title=Who Was Jennifer Syme, Keanu Reeves' Late Ex-Girlfriend? |url=https://www.thethings.com/who-was-jennifer-syme-keanu-reeves-late-ex-girlfriend/ |website=TheThings |access-date=October 22, 2021 |archive-date=October 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022190208/https://www.thethings.com/who-was-jennifer-syme-keanu-reeves-late-ex-girlfriend/ |url-status=live }}

In 1997, Syme made her film debut in a small role credited as "junkie girl" in David Lynch's Lost Highway.{{Cite web |title=Lost Highway (1997) |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7ed49278 |access-date=November 21, 2021 |website=British Film Institute |archive-date=November 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121082621/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7ed49278 |url-status=dead }}

Syme had a small role credited as "casting chick" in Scott Coffey's film Ellie Parker, released in 2005,{{Cite web |title=Ellie Parker (2005) |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8aff3074 |access-date=November 21, 2021 |website=British Film Institute |archive-date=November 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121082620/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8aff3074 |url-status=dead }} reprising the role she played in the 2001 short film of the same title.{{Cite web |last=Kipp |first=Jeremiah |date=November 7, 2005 |title=Review: Ellie Parker |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/ellie-parker/ |website=Slant Magazine |access-date=November 24, 2021 |archive-date=November 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124063532/https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/ellie-parker/ |url-status=live }}

At the time of her death in 2001, Syme had enrolled in a film-supervision course at UCLA, and was working as a record company executive.{{Cite web |date=April 4, 2001 |title=Keanu's Ex Killed in Crash |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=107276&page=1 |website=ABC News |access-date=November 21, 2021 |archive-date=November 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121082620/https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=107276&page=1 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Car smash kills Keanu's girlfriend |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1262030.stm |date=April 5, 2001 |website=BBC News |access-date=November 21, 2021 |archive-date=November 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121082620/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1262030.stm |url-status=live }}

According to reports, Syme met actor Keanu Reeves in 1998 at a party thrown for Reeves's rock band, Dogstar, and they started dating. 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.

On December 24, 1999, while eight months pregnant, she gave birth to her child with Reeves, but the baby was stillborn.{{Cite web |last=Gethin |first=Chamberlain |date=January 12, 2000 |title=Keanu's lover loses her baby |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/KEANU%27S+LOVER+LOSES+HER+BABY.-a060856518 |website=Daily Record |access-date=November 24, 2021 |archive-date=November 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124062026/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/KEANU%27S+LOVER+LOSES+HER+BABY.-a060856518 |url-status=live }} Syme's and Reeves's grief over the loss put a strain on their relationship, which ended several weeks later.{{Cite web |last=Page |first=Cara |date=March 4, 2000 |title=Keanu and girlfriend split after baby's death. |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Keanu+and+girlfriend+split+after+baby%27s+death.-a060845841 |website=Daily Record |access-date=November 21, 2021 |archive-date=November 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121082620/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Keanu+and+girlfriend+split+after+baby%27s+death.-a060845841 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Reeves keeps to himself after ex-girlfriend's death |url=https://www.chron.com/entertainment/article/Reeves-keeps-to-himself-after-ex-girlfriend-s-2008073.php |access-date=16 July 2019 |work=Houston Chronicle |agency=AFP |date=2001-04-05 |archive-date=July 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190716045425/https://www.chron.com/entertainment/article/Reeves-keeps-to-himself-after-ex-girlfriend-s-2008073.php |url-status=live }} They remained close friends after their breakup and were back together in 2001.

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.

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,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C277rKepbkEC&pg=PA239|title=The Long Hard Road out of Hell |last=Manson |first=Marilyn |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1998|isbn=978-0-06-098746-6|page=239}} and later depicted her in a painting called "A Mother Without a Daughter and a Daughter Without a Mother (In Memory of Jen)".{{Cite web |title=Marilyn Manson Artwork Online – Originals: A daughter without a mother and a mother without a daughter |url=http://www.nachtkabarett.com/MM.com_2002-2004/marilynmansonartworkonline/mm.cgi2003/mm_002.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211128215349/http://www.nachtkabarett.com/MM.com_2002-2004/marilynmansonartworkonline/mm.cgi2003/mm_002.html |archive-date=November 28, 2021 |access-date=November 28, 2021 |website=Nachtkabarett}}{{Cite web |date=May 2016 |title=Moederzoekers |url=https://seeallthis.com/blog/moederzoekers/ |website=See All This |language=Dutch |access-date=November 28, 2021 |archive-date=November 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128221459/https://seeallthis.com/blog/moederzoekers/ |url-status=live }}

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.{{cite web |last1=Vineyard |first1=Jennifer |title=Marilyn Manson Accused Of Contributing To Friend's Death |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1453249/marilyn-manson-accused-of-contributing-to-friends-death/ |publisher=MTV |date=April 3, 2002 |access-date=July 16, 2019 |archive-date=2019-07-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190716045428/http://www.mtv.com/news/1453249/marilyn-manson-accused-of-contributing-to-friends-death/ |url-status=dead }} 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.{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=107244&page=1 |title=Film Notes: Keanu Reeves' Girlfriend Killed |date=2001-04-05 |publisher=ABC News |access-date=2009-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110129103351/https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=107244&page=1 |archive-date=2011-01-29}} Reeves, Dave Navarro, Scott Coffey, Anthrax's guitarist Scott Ian, and David Lynch acted as pallbearers at Syme's funeral. 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. She was buried next to her daughter at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.{{cite book |last=Fleming |first=E.J. |title=Hollywood Death and Scandal Sites: Seventeen Driving Tours with Directions and the Full Story |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hi-SCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 |edition=2nd |year=2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-9644-0 |page=64}} David Lynch dedicated his 2001 film Mulholland Drive to Syme in the closing credits.

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. 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.

While Syme and Keanu Reeves had broken up shortly after the stillbirth of their daughter, Reeves told investigators that they were back together. 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."

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"{{cite web |url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/mmansonla1.html |title=Manson, Minnelli Star In L.A. Law |date=2011-05-12 |website=The Smoking Gun|access-date=2007-11-01 |archive-date=2007-09-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070917003336/http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/mmansonla1.html |url-status=live}} and for "instructing [Syme] to operate a motor vehicle in her incapacitated condition".{{cite web |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1453344/20020409/marilyn_manson.jhtml |title=Manson May Fight Wrongful Death Suit With Countersuit |last=Vineyard |first=Jennifer |date=2002-04-09 |publisher=MTV |access-date=2009-11-29 |archive-date=2005-05-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050513174929/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1453344/20020409/marilyn_manson.jhtml |url-status=dead}} Manson denied responsibility, stating that the lawsuit was "completely without merit".{{Cite news |date=2002-04-08 |title=Marilyn Manson denies crash claim |publisher=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1916470.stm |access-date=2021-11-25 |archive-date=2013-10-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015104146/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1916470.stm |url-status=live}} The case was dismissed at St. John's request in May 2003.{{cite web |title=MARIA ST. JOHN, ETC., VS BRIAN WARNER, ETC., ET AL |url=https://unicourt.com/case/ca-la22-maria-st-john-etc-vs-brian-warner-etc-et-al-460689?init_S=csup_ltst |website=Unicourt |access-date=2024-10-29 }}

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

• Hotel Room (1 episode, 1993)
• Lost Highway (1997)

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Category:American film actresses

Category:Actresses from Los Angeles

Category:1972 births

Category:2001 deaths

Category:Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery

Category:Drug-related deaths in California

Category:People from Pico Rivera, California

Category:Road incident deaths in California

Category:20th-century American actresses