'Joker' Star Joaquin Phoenix & His Fiancée Step Out with Newborn during Venice Film Festival, Sparking a Stir

Joaquin Phoenix traveled to the Venice Film Festival with his fiancée, who has opened up about motherhood before, and their newborn. The trio's appearance has prompted mixed reactions from netizens.

On September 2, Hollywood couple Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara were spotted out during the prestigious 81st Venice International Film Festival in Italy. A photo of the duo, which shows Mara cradling seemingly their newborn in her arms, garnered varied responses from the public, with some expressing surprise at the fact that the couple had another baby.

Dressed casually for their outing, the "Joker" star sported a black T-shirt, black pants, sneakers, and stylish glasses. Mara, who was in full mom mode with her and Phoenix's baby nestled safely in one arm under a gray blanket sling, donned blue jeans, a long coat, ballet flats, and black shades.

Online observers were taken aback by the family's appearance. In the comment section of a Reddit post about the couple's Venice Film attendance, one user expressed, "Thank you to this post for reminding me that Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara are a couple."

This comment was made even though Mara and Phoenix have been an item for quite some time now, since meeting on the set of "Her" in 2012. The pair then got privately engaged in 2019.

That same year (2019), Mara's fiancé shared some words about how their relationship came to be in a Vanity Fair interview. "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 up a girl online," divulged Phoenix.

Drawing back to the comments that Phoenix and Mara recently elicited, a netizen compared the couple to Phoenix's "Joker: Folie à Deux" co-star Lady Gaga and her beau Michael Polansky. They asserted, "At least Gaga and her bf are making a sartorial effort, Joaquin and Rooney look like they just finished cleaning the garage."

"That's Rooney!? I barely recognized her… I worry for her honestly she seems to have [been] subsumed by Joaquin's career when I used to see her everywhere," noted a concerned user.

In response, someone else justified, "She has two kids at this point though (one she's currently carrying in a baby sling in the photos). I think she's focused more on parenthood atm."

Some people weren't even aware that Mara and Phoenix had another child. "Did Joaquin and Rooney have another kid? I didn't think River was born that recently but time gets away from me," penned an onlooker.

"Is there a baby or broken arm under Rooney Mara's blanket? Cuz it doesn't look [like] 'fashion' as much as [it looks] awkward," mentioned an observer. An X user pondered, "Is that [a] baby she's hiding from [the] paparazzi?"

"Rooney just had a second baby," stated a social media user. Chiming in with another comment about the newborn, another user observed, "Looks like Rooney is holding their new baby."

Replying to this comment, someone shared, "He took all his family to Venice little River was there too." "That's awesome," praised a fan in response to the aforementioned message.

Phoenix and Mara welcomed their second baby after the actress debuted her baby bump at the premiere of "La Cocina" during the Berlin Film Festival, which took place in February. Pictures show the star dressed in a long black dress and cradling her pregnant belly as she posed for the cameras.

Mara's pregnancy reveal came four years after she and Joaquin Phoenix welcomed their firstborn son, River, in 2020. The little boy is named after his father's late brother, who passed away in 1993.

After River was born, Mara shared some candid reflections about her life as a then-new mom in an open letter that was part of a Mother's Day campaign by Farm Sanctuary.

Her words, which were shared with People magazine, read, "As a new mom, Mother's Day has taken on a special meaning this year. Raising our baby, River, has opened my heart to a whole new life filled with hope and more determination than ever to create a kinder and more sustainable world."