Joaquin Phoenix fuels speculation of a secret wedding after calling longtime partner Rooney Mara his 'wife' during a recent public appearance.
Following a rare podcast interview in which he talked about his 2020 Oscar acceptance speech and appeared to refer to Mara, 39, as his "wife" for the first time, the 49-year-old actor set off marriage rumours.
On the September 29 broadcast of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso, Phoenix revealed that he "was talking with my mum and my wife" when he finally had the idea for the speech.
Soon later, in his recounting of how he came up with his speech, the U-Turn star addressed Mara by name, stating, "Rooney was like, 'That's what you should say!'"
Phoenix did not elaborate on whether he and Mara are lawfully married in his chat with Fragoso.
The actresses first crossed paths in 2012 while working on the Her set.
They started dating openly in 2017 and became engaged in 2019.
The couple is also expecting a second kid.
They had a son in 2020, River, who they named after Phoenix's late brother.
Both Mara and Phoenix tend to keep their relationship and personal life private, although Phoenix did mention in the past that he initially believed his current partner, who portrayed his ex-wife in the science fiction movie, didn't like him at first.
