Photo: Dave J Hogan/Getty
Rooney Marais opening up about what it’s like parenting with fiancéJoaquin Phoenix.
Speaking with the actor’s sister,Rain Phoenix, on herLaunchLeftpodcastlast week, theWomen Talkingactress, 37, opened up about how her considerations when selecting roles have changed since becoming a mom to sonRiver, 2.
“This was sort of my first job that I had done as a mother, and so it was a really important experience for me because I wasn’t really sure if I could work, if I can do both,” Mara shared. “I still don’t know, butSarah [Polley] made it possible on this, that we were working 10-hour days.”
Mara also took advantage of the knowledge and advice of other moms on set. “I was able to get advice fromClaire [Foy]andSheila [McCarthy]andJudith [Ivey]and all these moms that I was working with, and River was there on set all the time, in the green room. It was a very idyllic situation, it probably won’t happen like that again.”
Later in the discussion, Mara revealed she’d always envisioned being a mom, having grown up as one of four.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix.Todd Williamson/January Images/Shutterstock
Asked if she enjoys motherhood, Mara raved, “I love it. I love it so much. I think it’s the best thing in the world.”
“I mean, it sounds so cliché when you talk about it, but things are cliché for a reason,” she continued. “I also have a very privileged life.”
Mara went on to acknowledge how privilege makes her circumstances different than those of most other moms, sharing, “Motherhood is very challenging, even when you have a privileged life.”
Amy Sussman/WireImage.
“I’m so lucky that I have the choice to get to be with him most of the time. That I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m just going to work once a year if something feels right and other than that, this is what I’m doing,'” she noted. “Most people don’t have that option.”
Never having expected to raise children with another actor, Mara said it doesn’t feel like River is growing up in a “two-actor house.”
“It doesn’t feel like a two-actor house because I didn’t work for the first three and a half years we were together,” Mara explained. “Basically since we’ve been together, I only worked one or two times and one was really small and short. It feels like a creative household, we’re constantly talking about creative things.”
Phoenix and Mara first met in 2012 on the set ofHer, in which Mara played Phoenix’s ex-wife. The couple also costarred in 2016’sMary Magdalene, in which Mara played the titular role, and Phoenix portrayed Jesus.
Mara and Phoenix got engaged privately in 2019, and rumors of an engagement sparked when Mara wasphotographed wearing a large diamond ringon her left hand.
In September 2020, Mara and Phoenixwelcomed their son, named afterPhoenix’s late brother who died in 1993.
source: people.com
