Kriti Mehrotra
With Netflix’s ‘The Deepest Breath’ living up to its title in every way imaginable, we get an unprecedented insight into how even extreme sports like free diving have a lot of pure heart involved. After all, it comprises not only archival audio-video footage but also exclusive interviews to really chronicle the poignant tale of diving athlete Alessia Zecchini and safety diver Stephen Keenan. Amongst those to thus feature in this Laura McGann documentary was actually the latter’s father, Peter Keenan — so now, if you just wish to learn more about him, we’ve got the details for you.
Who is Peter Keenan?
It was reportedly back when Stephen was a mere child in the late 1970s-early 1980s that Peter realized his son’s intense interest in world exploration, driving him to make his peace quite early on. That’s because it’d become evident the former would often find himself in rather risky environments once he grew up, leaving the latter no choice but to accept and live by it as the years passed. Though the truth is the patriarch himself played a role in this youngster’s continued pull towards the outsiders by helping him take advantage of the fact they lived near the West Coast of Ireland.
“Stephen loved being out in the wild,” Peter conceded in the original production. “The two of us would go swimming at 5 in the morning, as the sun was coming up. I’d dive down, I’d snorkel, and he’d be holding my hand. With his own snorkel on, [he’d] point at the fish here and fish there. ‘What’s the biggest this? What’s the smallest that? What’s the least common whale? What’s the most common whale?’ Those endless ‘Why? What? Where? How Often? How Many?’ His interest in nature started with us watching David Attenborough.” In other words, the father-son duo was close, and the former was clear on the fact he’d never stop his kids from pursuing their passions.
However, things changed while Stephen was in his teens as Peter left the family home and his mother Maura got diagnosed with cancer, resulting in all of them developing an entirely new perspective. The youngster obviously knew he didn’t want to settle down or lead a conventional life in Dublin upon graduation, yet he still stuck around alongside his younger brother Gary for Maura since they’d always been close too. Her death then pushed them to face things together before the former finally began traveling to the places he’d dreamed of prior to settling in Egypt as a safety diver while staying in touch with Peter.
Where is Peter Keenan Now?
Despite the fact Peter was well aware of the dangers of his son’s job, he never imagined he’d actually lose him to a blackout turned drowning, and that too during a recreational dive by Alessia Zecchini. “Part of grief is kind of selfish,” he expressed in the documentary while reflecting upon Stephen’s life and the July 22, 2017, incident. “And the selfish part of grief makes me miss him. I miss him. I miss him not coming home. I miss him in my life. But I am much consoled by how he lived. He was pretty courageous. Stephen was searching for something all his life. He had found something he loved and somebody who shared his dream. Alessia and the sea, they were all he needed.”
Therefore, today, from what we can tell, Peter appears to be doing his best to move on with his life while keeping the memories of his lost son alive in his heart. As for his base, he’s still residing in Dublin, Ireland, at the moment, where he’s surrounded by his surviving son Gary, Gary’s partner, their children, as well as other loved ones. In other words, considering his pain and grief, it seems like he’s currently as content as possible.
Read More: Enzo Zecchini: Where is Alessia Zecchini’s Dad Now?
