Christina Grimmie’s Main Line Connection

A recent online article reports that actor and current Villanova University senior, Andrew McKeough, had a close and personal relationship with singer Christina Grimmie. Though Grimmie would often visit the city of brotherly love, Grimmie would venture into the Main Line to visit one of her closest friends.

The article states that McKeough, who is now 22, met Grimmie back in 2011 during a taping of the Ellen Show in LA. The two met and bonded over their “[...] love for all things geeky [...] Ocean City, [New Jersey...].” After the two met, they kept in touch and tracked each other’s rising careers often speaking with each other several times a week. Grimmie and McKeough would be frequently seen together while visiting each other in Philadelphia, LA or Ocean City.

A Marlton, NJ native, Christina Grimmie is the famous breakout singer who rose to fame on season six of NBC’s The Voice where she was coached to the finals by Maroon 5 frontman, Adam Levine. Grimmie’s career would not stop there, she toured with Selena Gomez & the Scene and Rachel Platten before launching tours of her own with the band Before You Exit. Grimmie received many awards and honors including a American Music Award, a iHeartRadio Music Award and a Teen Choice award among others.

Andrew McKeough is the Wayne native who attended Conestoga High School in Berwyn and rose to fame appearing on many different TV shows and movies. He is most famous for his role as John Carter on AMC’s TURN: Washington’s Spies and as Josh in Dolphin Tale 2. McKeough even won a Cappie Award for his part in the musical Titanic. McKeough is known for his many a-list connections, which include Taylor Swift, Jennie Eisenhower and Jackie Evancho, just to name a few.

Grimmie and McKeough’s friendship was extremely private, something that they wanted and enjoyed very much. They would talk multiple times a week on the phone and would watch movies over Skype together.

However, their so-called “private” friendship became more public when a tabloid caught the two having lunch together in LA and concluded that the two were a couple. The rumor was immediately squashed by their teams but that left fans wondering about the extent of their friendship. Some fans wondered if the song “Without Him” on her EP Side A was written about her time with McKeough. McKeough himself stated that that rumor was also false and that their friendship was "too personal, even for [their] music."

The first time Grimmie and McKeough’s careers would intersect was when they share the big screen in the 2016 film, The Matchbreaker. It was something that Grimmie was extremely excited about, being her feature-film debut and McKeough was just as excited for her.

Just as the rise of Christina Grimmie has set its place in history, her tragic death is - sadly - just as famous. On Friday, June 10, 2016, Grimmie was just wrapping up the final leg of her concert tour in Orlando. She was signing autographs and taking photos with her fans at a post-concert meet and greet; something McKeough said “she would always do [...] and was her favorite part of the night.” An obsessed fan came up to her and as she opened her arms for a hug, he shot her three times. Twice in the chest and once in the head. McKeough had just gotten to the concert venue as the shots rang out. The news would shock the world and set off a series of events that became known as “the darkest weekend” in Orlando. 50 more people would die in a nightclub shootout and an alligator attack before the sun would set on Sunday night.

McKeough was left heartbroken.

He would recall his time with Grimmie stating that she was the brightest light in the world and always made everyone around her feel warm and fuzzy inside. He spoke about one time in particular when she made a surprise visit to Ocean City to see McKeough while he was recovering from a back injury that made him cancel most of his summer plans.

McKeough’s publicist says that, “He is still grieving Christina’s passing and cannot find the right words to speak publicly about their friendship or her passing [...].”

In one of the only interviews where McKeough addressed the topic, he says that, “She is in a better place and I know that she is watching over us every day of our lives. She is my guardian angel.”