Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara have welcomed their first child together, a baby boy named after the actorâs late brother, River Phoenix.
While the press-averse couple have yet to formally announce the news, director Victor Kossakovsky, who worked with Joaquin Phoenix on the wordless, black-and-white documentary âGunda,â confirmed the newbornâs arrival on Sunday at the 2020 Zurich Film Festival.
âHe just got a baby by the way,â the director said when asked about the actor at a screening of the film. âA beautiful son called River.â
River Phoenix died in 1993 of a drug overdose at age 23 at the height of his fame after starring in films like âStand By Meâ and âMy Own Private Idaho.â
He collapsed outside of the popular West Hollywood nightclub The Viper Room on Halloween night while out with the âJokerâ star, who was just 19 years old at the time and called the police for help.
Joaquin Phoenix, of course, has since followed in his brotherâs footsteps, making a name for himself in the film industry, while keeping River Phoenixâs memory alive all these years later.
During his 2019 Oscar speech, while accepting the Best Actor trophy for his performance in âJoker,â the actor made special mention of River Phoenix, while Mara watched on in the audience.
âWhen he was 17, my brother wrote this lyric,â Joaquin Phoenix said at the end of his speech. âHe said, âRun to the rescue, and love and peace will follow.â Thank you.â
The actor has been reluctant to speak about his brother in the press given the media attention surrounding his death at the time, but spoke candidly about River Phoenixâs lasting legacy in a â60 Minutesâ interview with Anderson Cooper last year.
âI feel like in virtually every movie that I made, there was a connection to River in some way,â he said. âAnd I think that weâve all felt his presence and guidance in our lives in numerous ways.â
Mara and Joaquin Phoenix, who got engaged last year, first met on the set of the 2013 film âHer.â
Joaquin Phoenix initially believed that Mara âdespisedâ him upon their first meeting, but the two later developed a mutual attraction.
âSheâs the only girl I ever looked up on the internet,â he told Vanity Fair. âWe were just friends, email friends. Iâd never done that. Never looked up a girl online.â
They went onto spark a romance after starring in two more films together, âDonât Worry, He Wonât Get Far on Footâ and âMary Magdalene,â and made their red carpet debut as a couple at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.
Reports circulated in May that the couple were expecting a child together, but neither spoke out at the time about the rumours.