Back when Joaquin was Leaf.

His career would have stalled if he kept his name Leaf.

What a talent. We’ll never know what he would have been.

ouch. just such a horrible tragedy. imagine what he would’ve given us in the last 30 years.

Watch Dogfight if you can.

Just rewatched Stand by Me last night. He was so talented.

Yeah, if he hadn’t been raped by a pack of good Christians when he was 4 he might still be with us.

Wasn't he raised in the Children of God cult?😭

What a great actor he was. Such a loss...

*Lief Phoenix 😉

And we wouldn't have had to put up with Leo's creepy dreck.

I’m glad I’m not the only who thinks Leo is creepy.

I'm going to say something horrible, so forgive me in advance... why couldn't the drug overdose gods have taken RFK Jr instead?

This pic is both beautiful and tragic.

That was when Joaquin was still going under Leaf Phoenix.

Dope kills dopes. Learn how to live your lives.

good Lord, 40 years ago!!

🥲🌹

I met him in 1990 at a sandwich place in Portland, Oregon. He seemed nice and down-to-earth for our short interaction. He bummed a smoke off of me, and I got his autograph for my sister 😆

When I was a teen, I had a huuuuge crush on River Phoenix. 💓 I created this awesome diary with magazine clippings of him surrounded by scratch-and-sniff and bubble stickers. 🤩🤣

That's cute.

Me too!! Then, with less stickers, Heath Ledger. Then I stopped having Hollywood crushes.

And me. Heath and River. I think that kind of fame must be really tough for introspective, gentle souls.

I will always remember River from Stand By Me. He was the voice of reason in their little group.

I miss River incredibly. Many have compared him to James Dean. No. River was infinitely more talented (& better looking) than Dean.

Such a sad loss.

Such a great loss of talent. 😢

Joaquin was born in Puerto Rico 🇵🇷

Gone far too soon. My favorite River Phoenix role was young Indiana Jones. He did such an amazing job at making that role his own, while matching Harrison Ford’s iconic facial expressions.

Great portrayal. Had he lived, there's not a doubt in my mind that he would have at some point taken over the role from Harrison Ford.

What is on the stove?

Really sad, he was so talented!

I remember feeling weird about it, because he was the first famous person in my life who was MY AGE that died. Such a loss.

Rebecca Schaffer was mine.

😢

Forever young RIP

Happy birthday handsome 🎈🎉 To Live In The Hearts We Leave Behind Is Not To Die you are missed beyond words

I can't see that and not think of River's role in "I Love You To Death" with Kevin Kline, or remember the 911 call from Joaquin, or Johnny Depp. Great photo of them though.

I akways think of the trauma Joaquin still must be suffering wtnessing his brother's death.

I see “Running on Empty” whenever I see River (or Stand By Me of course)…. ROE is one of my fave River movies

I'll have to check that out, I've not seen nor heard of it, but I'm not the biggest movie person in the world. Thanks for the inadvertent recco! 😆

Enjoy! Good cast, too.

Running on Empty is such a great movie. River’s amazing in it. Extremely talented

He was also good in Sneakers

💔

Stand by me era, sad, very sad. 😔

Im so sorry for your loss

Running on Empty. He was good in that.

But he's not because he took drugs

You're either pure scum or a 12 year old who thinks he is cool and edgy with scumbag comments. Either way, you're a cancer on society. 💯

Just a fact. He overdosed on drugs. Enjoy your fentanyl.

That is true. It was in all the papers.

Sorry I can't be sad about a guy who checked out of real life in more ways than one, and then to have people memorialize him. I'm scum I guess.

Oh, I hear ya. Sad, but he could have prevented that.

Is this when they were in a cult?

No, they were out by this point.

Not me wanting to rewatch Explorers for the 1000th time right now.

How did I not know that River and Joaquin Phoenix were brothers? 😵‍💫

When River was alive, Joaquin was called “Leaf”. They have another sibling named “Rain”. We never hear about her anymore. I don’t know if there are any others.

If you dive deeper you'll find out about the horrifying sex cult he was raised in.

Cult Podcast has a great segment on it, it was really sad to hear. I hope this was taken after they were out

Decent guy! I met him at a10000 Maniacs concert in ‘93 in Atlanta. Tragic!

That makes two things you did on the same day in 1993 which I’d love to have done! 🥰🥰

💔💔💔

Leaf river changed his name to Joaquin

Probably on the release of Explorers. River was taken by possibly the greatest evil of Hollywood. Narcotics.

That’s a global evil, my friend.

Explorers and Flight of the Navigator are probably my two most beloved non animated childrens films. They are the two experiences I think of when I think of the experience of unrestricted flight. Flawed masterpieces IMO.

And untreated childhood sexual abuse and parental negligence that made him more likely to use.

People tend to forget that their family was in a fucked-up molestation cult!

Fucking love that movie, watched it a few weeks ago with my kids.

Yeah.....😢

great actor, a real shame. About my age now had he made it

TIL they were siblings

❤️❤️❤️🌟

I just finished Last Night at the Viper Room, an amazing book on River, truly excellent. Highly recommended. Author points out that an anagram of his name is ‘Viper Heroin X’ which, holy sh*t, is quite the mind blow.

I’m sure proud of Joaquin and his advocacy for our animals. I’m sure River would be, too.

River was the one who got their family to go vegan actually

What a family of talent

So young.

Only the good die young

Heartbreaking

Around 1981/82 there was a daytime show where viewers wrote in & shared their stories & a wish they wanted the producers to grant. The Phoenix kids appeared on that show & sang. I remembered the very hippy names, like River & Rainbow (as Rain was sometimes billed).

Aww. Joaquin became the , amazing actor, that his brother could have been.🥹

RIP. so sad. What a loss.

River Very talented

So sad, gone too soon

he would have made a much better robin than chris odonnel

River Phoenix was a promising actor who went too soon,RIP

💔