Joaquin Phoenix: A Childhood in a Very Dark Place
Actor Joaquin Phoenix spent the first three years of his life in the Children of God, a sect accused of promoting s*-*x with children.
He had a unique childhood, in which he traveled through Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Florida and Los Angeles, living in caravans and begging and singing in the streets, with his brothers, to be able to eat. What affected him the most is the death of his brother, River, due to an overdose in 1993, whom he himself assisted while he was dying.
His parents—wandering hippies—were drawn to the Children of God cult, founded in 1969 by David Berg and presided over by an unoriginal prophecy: "The apocalypse is coming." And, of course, if the end is imminent, the conclusion was "everyone to fuck, it's two days." The actress Rose McGowan, who lived until she was five years old in one of her communes, described the situation with that crudeness. "The message was: 'God made children fit to enjoy sex.'" Berg was accused of abusing dozens of young people, including his daughters and granddaughters, but he died in 1994 without conviction. McGowan also charged that Berg ordered women to sleep with men to lure them into his ranks, a practice he dubbed "flirty fishing."
The sect grew to 19,000 members. One of Berg's children, called to be his successor, committed suicide after confessing the abuse and murdering his nanny.
Joaquin Phoenix said that when his parents learned of this "fishing", they left the sect and that, even if they were deceived, all they wanted was to be part of a community that shared their ideals. But River – Joaquin's older brother – admitted in 1991, two years before he died of an overdose, that he was forced to have sex at the age of four. Joaquin's parents divorced in 1997. The actor has remained close to his mother, with whom he often appears at galas.
The Phoenix bird and other rebirths
- Joaquin owes his surname to his parents' decision to change the original, Bottom, to Phoenix, from the Phoenix, to symbolize his rebirth after the family abandoned a dangerous sect...
- He had a unique childhood, in which he traveled through Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Florida and Los Angeles, living in caravans and begging and singing in the streets, with his brothers, to be able to eat.
- What affected him the most is the death of his brother, River, due to an overdose in 1993, whom he himself assisted while he was dying. Afterwards, he has had to go to rehab several times for his addiction to alcohol and drugs.
- Regarding the characteristic scar on his lip, he has explained that it is not a cleft lip, but simply a "birthmark".
