Phoenix was born at the Hospital Metropolitano San Francisco in the Río Piedras district of San Juan, Puerto Rico, to John Lee Bottom, the founder of a landscape gardening company, and Arlyn "Heart" Bottom (née Dunetz), an executive secretary at NBC and whose connection to an agent provided her children with acting ...

At the time of his birth, Phoenix's parents were missionaries in a millenarian Christian religious cult called the Children of God. When he was a young child, they returned to the United States, left the cult, and changed the family name from Bottom to Phoenix.

Yes, Joaquin was with his brother River when he collapsed and was having seizures. Joaquin called the paramedics and accompanied him with their sister, Rain. Rain and Joaquin were in the hospital when River was pronounced dead.

Early life. Phoenix was born on August 23, 1970, in Madras, Oregon, the first child of Arlyn Dunetz and John Lee Bottom. He had four younger siblings, Rain (born 1972), Joaquin (born 1974), Liberty (born 1976) and Summer (born 1978), as well as a paternal half-sister, Jodean (born 1964).