Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara open up about their son in op-ed

Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara have confirmed the arrival of their son since quietly welcoming him into the world two months ago.

The couple spoke about their child for the first time publicly in an impassioned People op-ed about the 545 children who have yet to be reunited with their parents after being separated at the US-Mexico border.

Joaquin, 46, and his fiancee Rooney, 35, called the thought of being separated from their own child ‘unbearable’, and imagined having to answer to him as he grew curious about the subject later in life. 

‘As new parents, it’s unbearable to imagine what it would feel like to have our child taken away from us for a day, let alone years,’ the engaged couple wrote. 

‘But that’s the very situation those 545 children and their parents have been living through. As Americans, it’s our responsibility to continue paying attention to the plight of these families and get answers for why they still have not been located.’

The couple also wondered how they would be able to explain the situation to their son once he grew more curious about the topic. 

‘We have to ask ourselves: Is this the country that we want? Are these our values? How will it feel to explain to our son, when he asks us about this time and how we treated scared, defenseless children, some of whom may never see their parents again?’ Rooney and Joaquin wondered.  

‘For the sake of our nation’s character, I hope we will be able to tell him that America unequivocally rejected this cruelty and demanded that our representatives did everything in their power to find those missing parents.’ 

A recent court filing revealed that the parents of 545 migrant children separated from their offspring at the US border have yet to be located. 

The separations occurred in 2017, during a crackdown on illegal crossings at the US southern border, which Donald Trump promised to make a key part of his Presidency.

More than 1,000 parents were separated from their children during a ‘pilot program’, which occurred from April and December 2017, according to NBC.  

The children separated from their parents allegedly include ’22 children who were one year old and 28 children who were two years old’. 

Joaquin and Rooney reportedly welcomed a baby boy named after the actor’s late brother River Phoenix in August.

Director Victor Kossakovsky spilled the beans at the 2020 Zurich Film Festival after a screening of the film Gunda, on which Joaquin served as executive producer.

‘He just got a baby by the way… A beautiful son called River,’ the director told audience members at a Q&A.

The couple never officially announced the birth of their firstborn and Rooney’s pregnancy, making the op-ed the first time they had ever spoken about him.