
This post deals with drug abuse and might be triggering for some readers.
Famously covert celebrity couple Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara have just welcomed their first child - a gorgeous boy named River.
The couple first met on the set of the movie Her in 2013 and got engaged in 2019. Sources doubt that the couple ever actually got around to tying the knot as “they think marriage is too mainstream”, and instead they focussed on starting their own family.
Pregnancy rumours surrounded Rooney in May of this year, but the birth was confirmed by director Victor Kossakovsky who told the world in a Q&A session at the 2020 Zurich Film Festival last month.
Watch the best (and strangest) celebrity baby names. Post continues after video.
Kossakovsky also announced that the new parents had settled on the name ‘River’, naming their son after Joaquin's brother who died in 1993.
The story surrounding River Phoenix’s death is one that, unfortunately, rings true for a lot of child stars. Involving drugs, clubs and life in the limelight.
But those closest to River at the time, including his now-famous brother Joaquin, shed some much needed context on his death.
River was beyond a rising star at the time of his death, starring in over 25 movies and TV series, including Stand by Me and The Thing Called Love. His success could be credited to getting into the acting scene at an early age.
River’s parents (John and Arlyn) joined the Children of God (the same ‘cult’ that Rose McGowan’s family were involved in) when he was only three years old. This meant that River never received a formal education and instead busked on the street to raise money for food.
When his family left the church when he was eight, rather than placing River in school his mother rang the casting director at Paramount and set him to work right away. His younger siblings, Rain, Liberty, Summer and, of course, Joaquin (real name, Leaf) followed suit.