Rooney Mara & Joaquin Phoenix Welcome First Child Together (& the Name Is a Sweet Tribute to Phoenix’s Brother)

Congratulations to Rooney Mara and her, fiancé Joaquin Phoenix, who are now officially parents!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo star and the Oscar-winning actor welcomed their first child together, according to Russian filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky—and we've already got a name.

During his appearance at the 2020 Zurich Film Festival, Kossakovsky explained that Phoenix was absent for the screening of Gunda (which he executive produced) because he recently became a dad. He explained, "He just got a baby by the way. A beautiful son called River, so he cannot promote it now."

The newborn's name is a tribute to Phoenix's late brother, River Phoenix, who unfortunately died at 23 in 1993.

Reports of Mara's pregnancy first surfaced in May, when a source confirmed to Us Weekly that Rooney was "about six months along." By then, the couple had already been dating for about three years, after they filmed Mary Magdalene in 2017. By May of 2019, Mara was spotted with a massive ring on that finger, leading to reports that the couple had gotten engaged. 

Although the couple confirmed their relationship by making their red carpet debut at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, Mara and Phoenix have been very private about things. Still, it hasn't stopped Phoenix from singing his partner's praises.

While talking about the beginning of their relationship, he told Vanity Fair, "She’s the only girl I ever looked up on the Internet. We were just friends, email friends. I’d never done that. Never looked a girl up online." Sounds like love to us.

Congrats again to the new parents!!