JOAQUIN’S JOY
Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix welcome baby boy named River after his late brother
OSCAR winner Joaquin Phoenix and his fiancée Rooney Mara have welcomed a baby boy, called River.
The joyful news was revealed by close friend and director Viktor Kossakovsky.
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Viktor let the good news slip while promoting his film Gunda at the Zurich Film Festival on which serves as executive producer.
The director explained the actor's absence saying: "He just got a baby, by the way, his name was… a beautiful son called River, so he cannot promote it now."
The happy couple named their first son together after Joaquin's late brother River.
Joaquin paid tribute to the Stand By Me actor River Phoenix after the acclaimed star died in 1993 when he was just 23 back.
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The up and coming Hollywood star died of a drug overdose over the notorious Viper Room, a Los Angeles nightclub previously owned by Johnny Depp.
The couple are yet to confirm the good news but Joaquin has often spoken about the impact of losing his brother at such a young age.
He broke down in tears earlier this year while accepting the Oscar for Best Actor.
Joaquin cried as he accepted his award, and recited lyrics by his late brother River.
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for his work in Todd Philips' Joker and at the end of a long speech, he thanked his peers for giving him a second chance, and mentioned his brother.
"I’ve been a scoundrel in my life. I’ve been selfish, I’ve been cruel at times, hard to work with," he said.
"I’m grateful, so many of you in this room have given me a second chance and I think that’s when we’re at our best, when we support each other, not when we cancel each other out for past mistakes, but when we help each other to grow, when we educate each other, when we guide each other toward redemption. That is the best of humanity."
"I just want to... when he was 17, my brother wrote this lyric, he said, 'Run to the rescue with love and peace will follow'."
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It was first reported that was the couple's first child in May.
Last year and Rooney got engaged after three years of dating.
Speaking about the low-profile couple, sources told : "They don’t really like to go out.
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"They mainly just like to be with each other as the two of them. They’re in their own bubble."
The couple initially met while working on the 2013 film, Her.
However, they didn't start dating until they reunited on the set of Mary Magdalene in 2016, making their red carpet debut in 2017 at the Cannes Film Festival.
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In a 2019 interview, the told "She’s the only girl I ever looked up on the internet.
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"We were just friends, email friends. I'd never done that. Never looked up a girl online."
The apparent parents-to-be have been self-isolating at their Los Angeles home amid the pandemic.
Oscars 2020: Best Actor winner Joaquin Phoenix breaks down reciting late brother River’s lyrics in speech
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