Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara have reportedly welcomed their first son together and they have chosen a more perfect name.
Paying Tribute to His Late Brother
Victor Kossakovsky who directed Gunda shared the news at the 2020 Zurich Film Festival, where he spoke to reporters following the screening of his new movie. Phoenix served as executive producer of the black and white film, which wordlessly follows a piglet growing up on a farm.
“He just [had a] baby,” Kossakovsky announced when noting the actor’s absence, softly adding that his “beautiful son” was named River.
River shares the name of his late-uncle, River Phoenix, who tragically died in 1993 following an accidental drug overdose. The Stand By Me actor was 23.
Joaquin, who was extremely close with his older sibling, was 19 when his brother passed.
Keeping It Lowkey
Phoenix, 45, and Mara, 35 are a notoriously private couple. They managed to keep her entire pregnancy quiet, with Us Weekly reporting that the couple was expecting in May when Mara was “about six months along.” Rumors that the pair were engaged began to circle around in May 2019 when Mara was spotted wearing a big diamond ring.
The couple first met filming 2013’s Her, in which they played a divorced couple. According to an October 2019 Vanity Fair profile of Phoenix, he initially thought Mara “despised him” while shooting, before realizing “she was just shy and actually liked him too.”
They went on to co-star in both Mary Magdalene and Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot in 2018, right around the time they made their red carpet debut together at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.
One of Phoenix and Mara’s final public appearances before welcoming River was at the 2020 Oscars in February, where he won Best Actor for his performance in Joker. He ended his acceptance speech by honoring his late brother: “When he was 17, my brother wrote this lyric. He said, ‘Run to the rescue with love, and peace will follow.'”
They have yet to respond to reports that they’ve become parents.
