Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara welcome their first child together, name pays tribute to actor's late brother

Oscar winning actor Joaquin Phoenix and his fiancee, actress Rooney Mara have welcomed their first child together- a baby boy last month. The couple who have always maintained a low profile did not even announce their pregnancy which was later made public by an entertainment portal.

Now, reports state that the couple welcomed their first child last month. Joaquin and Rooney got engaged in May 2019.
Interestingly, the baby's name has an emotional connect with Joaquin's family.

The announcement of the baby's arrival was, in fact, made by filmmaker director Victor Kossakovsky at the 2020 Zurich Film Festival where his film was being screened. Joaquin serves as the executive producer of the film but gave the event a miss. , Victor revealed during the Q&A session, "He just got a baby, by the way. His name was... a beautiful son called River, so he cannot promote it now".

The name holds a special meaning for Joaquin as his elder brother was Rover Phoenix who died in 1993 at a young age.

Joaquin has earlier mentioned that how his brother has a had deep influence in his career.

"There's always been a presence in all of our work in the past that we took individually and collectively. Absolutely (feeling River's presence in his work)... in virtually every movie that I made, there was a connection to River in some way. I think that we've all felt his presence and guidance in our lives in numerous ways," the 'Joker' star had confessed in an interview.

The couple is yet to confirm the news of the arrival of their son.