The Untold Truth Of Joaquin Phoenix

Born Joaquin Rafael Bottom on October 28, 1974 in Puerto Rico, Phoenix had nomadic early years as his parents Arlyn (who goes by Heart) and John were members of the Children of God Christian missionary group, now classified as a cult. Because of their involvement in that organization, the Bottoms traveled all over South and Central America, spending the most time in Venezuela where the cult's increasingly sinister practices began to disenchant Joaquin's parents. Children of God reportedly encouraged sexual activity in children as young as three years old. While Joaquin has never spoken about being abused himself, his older brother River openly discussed having his first sexual contact at the age of four. 

After escaping Children of God, Heart and John returned to the U.S. with their five kids in tow to live with Heart's family in Florida before eventually moving to Los Angeles. They changed their last name from Bottom to Phoenix, honoring the symbol of a mythical creature rising from the ashes that would eventually define the family when they became famous. Joaquin also decided to go by the first name Leaf, to match better with his brother River and their sisters Summer, Rain, and Liberty. The Phoenix kids played music on the streets for rent money until their mom got a job as secretary to an NBC casting agent. Through Heart's networking, well-known casting agent Iris Burton was won over by their talent and shepherded them into the bright lights of Hollywood.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

Joaquin Phoenix went by his chosen name Leaf for the first few years of his acting career, but it was actually his brother who snagged the first screen role in the television show "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers." River quickly brought his family along; Joaquin had his first TV role on that show too, quickly followed with the "ABC Afterschool Special Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia" and "Murder, She Wrote," as well as the crime procedurals "The Fall Guy" and "Hill Street Blues" between 1982 and 1984. As River's star began to rise in movies, with his breakout in "Stand By Me," Joaquin also landed juicy lead roles in "SpaceCamp" in 1986 and "Russkies" in 1987. 

Joaquin's first truly big break wouldn't come until 1989 with the Steve Martin family dramedy "Parenthood," as troubled youngster Garry, a boy struggling with his father's abandonment of his family. The film was a hit, and Phoenix was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actor for this nuanced and heartbreaking performance. But just as Joaquin was set to follow in his brother's successful footsteps, another tragedy hit his family that prevented him from acting for almost two years. 

Joaquin Phoenix was hit extremely hard by the loss of his brother River, but when he came back to acting, he did so with a vengeance. He decided to return to his given name Joaquin instead of Leaf, seen for the first time in the credits of Gus Van Sant's critically acclaimed film "To Die For" — which kickstarted a fierce new chapter of Phoenix's career in 1995. Based on a true story, "To Die For" saw Phoenix as Jimmy, a young man whose married girlfriend (played by Nicole Kidman) convinces him to kill her husband.  

After the success of "To Die For," Phoenix went on to work with Oliver Stone on "U-Turn," then appeared in the romantic drama "Inventing the Abbotts" and the thrillers "Clay Pigeons" and "8MM." But it wasn't until Ridley Scott's "Gladiator" that Phoenix's talents brought him his first Oscar nomination for his layered performance as Emperor Commodus. By the time he worked with M. Night Shyamalan on "Signs" and "The Village," Phoenix had established his career in his own right.

Diving deep emotionally and physically to embody Johnny Cash and the addictions that shaped his life and career came with a dark side for Joaquin Phoenix: After filming for "Walk the Line" wrapped, he checked himself into rehab for a brief stint. Phoenix had never been more than a social drinker before "Walk the Line," and had increased his alcohol consumption significantly to better understand Cash. As he told London magazine (via the Irish Examiner), "I was really leaning on alcohol to feel okay. That's really what it was."

"To play Cash, I had learned a whole new way of functioning in the world, and suddenly, I couldn't rely on that anymore," he told the New York Times. "You go into a space of not having a routine to your day, of not knowing what you're going to say, and it's like, who are you? What are you? It's so easy to have a drink to just feel okay about being nothing." Phoenix joined Alcoholics Anonymous, telling the Times it was "the best thing" he ever did for himself. Opening up about his problems with alcohol also led Phoenix to admit to other mental health issues, like severe anxiety about performing. 

During this difficult time, Phoenix also had a terrifying brush with death when his brakes failed and his car crashed. Amazingly, he was rescued by documentary filmmaker Werner Herzog, and nobody was badly injured.

In an interview with Collider, Joaquin Phoenix discussed the moment in his childhood that made him, and soon his whole family, lifelong vegans. "They were catching fish, and I guess to stun them they were throwing them against the side of the boat," he recalled. "I just had a profound strong reaction. It felt like a real injustice ... I think it made me distrustful, and angry, and frightened of humans, humanity. I just thought it was such a gross abuse of power in a way. I think that during that moment we knew that we were not going to eat meat anymore." He was four years old at the time and hasn't eaten meat since.   

Phoenix has also used his celebrity platform to further various causes for animal rights. He is a PETA spokesperson, as well as a spokesperson for Defense of Animals. He narrated the documentary "Earthlings," which focused on how capitalism fuels animal abuse. He starred in a 2013 PETA short film, and was also executive producer on the Netflix documentary "What The Health" in 2017, which argues that a vegan lifestyle can prevent cancer. 

Phoenix has also been involved in a great deal of charity work, including working with Amnesty International, the Red Cross, the American Foundation for AIDS Research, and many more. He has also been on the board of directors for the Lunchbox Fund, an organization that provides meals for underprivileged South African children in Soweto.

Riding a wave of critical acclaim for his performance in the comics-inspired 2019 drama "Joker," Joaquin Phoenix received the Toronto International Film Festival Tribute Actor Award alongside Meryl Streep. The award recognizes decades of cinematic excellence, and during his acceptance speech Joaquin made rare and emotional comments about his late brother River. "When I was 15 or 16, my brother River came home from work and he had a VHS copy of a movie called 'Raging Bull,' and he sat me down and made me watch it," he recalled. "And the next day he woke me up, and he made me watch it again. And he said, 'You're going to start acting again, this is what you're going to do ... He didn't ask me, he told me. And I am indebted to him for that because acting has given me such an incredible life." 

During a speech that started out with self-deprecating humor, that raw and vulnerable turn only made this honoring of his career even more poignant. Joaquin Phoenix also credited his father John Lee for gifting him with an exceptional work ethic that helped him get to this point, but also quipped that it might not have fully been on display on the "Joker" set.

Joaquin Phoenix shared a three-year romance with actress Liv Tyler in the '90s and was romantically linked previously to actresses Jessica Joffe and Amelia Warner, among others, but the private actor was mostly tight-lipped about his romances. Nevertheless, Phoenix and Rooney Mara, who began as friends, have been in a committed relationship for many years. The couple first met in 2012 as costars of the Spike Jonze-helmed sci-fi romance, "Her." It wasn't love at first sight; as he told Vanity Fair, Phoenix was initially convinced Mara didn't like him. However, the actor was intrigued and the two costars became quick friends. "She was the only girl I ever looked up on the internet. We were just friends, email friends," he said.

The friendship continued to blossom, and in 2017, Phoenix told the New York Times that it was Mara who prompted him to play Jesus opposite her Mary Magdalene in the biblical film, "Mary Magdalene." The friendship turned to romance soon after filming wrapped. By the 2017 awards season, the couple had appeared together in public, and in 2020, Phoenix and Mara welcomed a son, River (named for the actor's late brother). The pair got engaged in 2019, and although a public wedding announcement has yet to come, Hello! magazine shared that in 2022, Phoenix began to refer to Mara as his wife.

The acting styles of Joaquin Phoenix and Heath Ledger both adhere to intense Method techniques, and the career paths of the two actors were on a similar trajectory. Both were nominated for multiple awards, and both largely shunned mainstream A-list roles for meatier character work. Ledger devoted himself to authentic portrayals and transformed his physicality when called for — much like Phoenix. Until Ledger's tragic death in 2008, his performances in films like the gay cowboy romance, "Brokeback Mountain" (which earned him his first Academy Award nomination) and the gritty drama "Monster's Ball" showed his huge potential.

Before Joaquin Phoenix won his first Oscar for "Joker," Heath Ledger posthumously won his only Oscar for playing the Joker in "The Dark Knight." Although Phoenix plays the psychotic criminal in the time leading up to his transformation, and Ledger's Joker has already begun his rivalry with Batman, both actors give riveting portrayals of a deeply troubled man. It turns out that the two actors were friends in real life, and Phoenix thought highly of his fellow Method actor. When Phoenix accepted a Screen Actors Guild Award for his "Joker" role, he gave Ledger a heartfelt shout-out, and video footage (via Deadline) shows that he ended his acceptance speech by stating, "Really, I am standing here on the shoulders of my favorite actor, Heath Ledger."

In the black and white drama "C'mon C'mon," Joaquin Phoenix delivers a strong performance as Johnny, a radio personality who travels the country to interview children about their inner thoughts on the future, showcasing the fears and hopes of kids everywhere. After a stop in Detroit, Johnny's sister Viv (Gaby Hoffman) asks her brother to help care for her nine-year-old son, Jesse (Woody Norman), while his dad, Paul (Scoot McNairy), deals with mental illness. Thrust into surrogate parenthood, Johnny learns much about himself and grows to love his nephew.

"C'mon C'mon" received great reviews from critics and audiences alike, and Phoenix exudes extraordinary chemistry with his excellent young costar. Yet Phoenix almost turned down the role. In an interview with The Playlist, director Mike Mills revealed that he'd always wanted Phoenix for the part. However, when Mills first met with Phoenix about the film, Phoenix said that Johnny wasn't right for him. After an intense discussion about the script. he changed his mind. "All the conversations we were having about the script, even his hesitations, or parts that felt blank for him, it was all fascinating. I just knew regardless, it was making it all better," Mills said.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

Joaquin Phoenix may not have much in common with his anxious character, Beau Wasserman, but he does understand the often overwhelming nature of severe anxiety. Although the actor is over three decades into his acting career, new roles can still bring up struggles with the condition. An article in British GQ disclosed that Phoenix used to smoke cigarettes to calm his inner angst, and did so when he received his first Academy Award nomination for "Gladiator." The article also noted that the actor would spend weeks in a state of debilitating anxiety before even beginning to shoot a new movie, to the point of feeling physically ill the day before he's first due on set and perspiring heavily for weeks while shooting.

However, although the actor's anxiety is evident in many of his films, it doesn't lead to bad or weak performances. Phoenix harnesses his anxiety to fuel his roles and embodies powerfully resonant characters. Many of the nuanced characters he's played — from washed-up baseball player Merrill Hess in M. Night Shyamalan's alien invasion drama "Signs" to Johnny Cash in "Walk the Line" — have a nervous quality that makes them ooze authentic, flawed humanity.