Joaquin Phoenix Welcomed A Baby Boy With Rooney Mara & Gave Him A Meaningful Name

Months after news broke that they were expecting, Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara have welcomed their first child together, a baby boy who has such a sweet and meaningful name.

While Romper's requests for comment from Phoenix and Mara's representatives were not immediately returned, filmmaker Viktor Kossavosky apparently shared the good news during a Q&A session after a screening of Gunda — a documentary that Phoenix executive produced — at the 2020 Zurich Film Festival on Sunday, according to Us Weekly.

Kossavosky explained that Phoenix was not at the festival because he was spending some quality time with his new family member. "He just got a baby, by the way, his name was...a beautiful son called River, so he cannot promote it now," he told reporters.

River is the name of Phoenix's older brother and fellow actor, who died in 1993 of a drug overdose. During an interview with Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes at the beginning of this year, Phoenix talked about his brother's impact on his life. "I feel like in virtually every movie that I made, there was a connection to River in some way," he told Cooper. "And I think we've all felt his presence and guidance in our lives in numerous ways."

Mara and Phoenix first began dating in 2017 after co-starring in Mary Magdalene, according to Harper's Bazaar. The couple reportedly got engaged in 2019 after Mara was spotted wearing a "large diamond ring" on that finger, according to Us Weekly. This past May, a source exclusively confirmed that the couple was expecting to Page Six, noting that Mara could be as far as six months along in her pregnancy.

Considering how private the couple is, it's unclear when Mara gave birth to their son. But judging from what Kassavosky said, their little boy has surely been keeping them busy.