In a 11.6 N.Y. Times op-ed piece, Ali Drucker risked cancellation by writing that Keanu Reeves‘ girlfriend Alexandra Grant “looks” like she could be “close” to Reeves’ age of 56.

All I said the other day was that alongside a 50something movie star, Grant’s appearance at a LACMA event last weekend defied the Hollywood red-carpet norm. “And,” I added, “there’s nothing the least bit wrong with that.” I was all but told to go sit in a corner on my high-chair and face the wall.

I wouldn’t have dared to come within 100 yards of offering an observation like Drucker’s. I was beaten and bruised just for stating an obvious fact. To her credit, Drucker is made of sterner stuff.

The piece is called “If Keanu Reeves’s Date Can Embrace Looking Her Age, I Can Too.”

Grant “is not [Keanu’s] age,” Drucker writes. “But if I’m being honest in a way that perhaps verges on impolite, she looks like she could be close to it.

“And that matters. A few years ago, you’d never catch me writing about a woman’s ability to ‘pass’ for her age, but now as I’ve entered my 30s and have a few lines of my own that even fillers can’t reach, I’d love to stop thinking of the discussion around women and getting older as a transgression. After all, don’t all adults walk around this earth looking plus or minus a few years of our actual age?

“I desperately want to see wrinkles and gray hair as an objectively good thing (look at these lovely markings of your full life on this planet!), or at least as a neutral thing, but the truth is I don’t yet. I’m getting married next year, and much as many brides search around for a hair stylist or makeup artist they like, I’ve been comparison-shopping for plastic surgeons who can do my Botox just right.

“I’m not afraid of getting older. I’m afraid of looking older. And to deny that, as embarrassing as it is, would be counterproductive to the many other women my age who feel the same way.”