Rain (Rainbow) Joan of Arc Phoenix

Liberty Butterfly Phoenix

One summer day in 1968, the young Arlyn Dunetz decided to leave her job as a secretary in Manhattan. She headed west to California to live her life as she pleased. Once there, she would meet John Bottom, who picked her up in his Volkswagen bus.

They fell in love with each other and were married the next year. One year later in the summer of 1970, Arlyn gave birth to a baby boy. On August 23, their first son was born, River Jude Bottom. The name River was taken from the river of life in Herman Hesse's novel Siddhartha, and the middle name, Jude, was taken from the Beatles' song "Hey Jude".

In 1972, John and Arlyn joined a cult called Children of God, where they worked as missionaries. In the years that followed, the Phoenix family became loyal members and toured communes recruiting new members.While in Texas, the couple had their second child. Rain Joan of Arc was born on Mar. 31, 1973. Their third son, Joaquin Rafael, later to be called Leaf, was born on the road in 1974.

When Rio was four, in accordance with the teachings of the Children of God, he began to experience sex with other young people. Husbands and wives had other partners and orgies were looked upon as acceptable behavior according to the cult leader, Moses David. Rio would later declare a second virginity from the ages of ten to fourteen.

In that same year, 1974, the Phoenixes were sent to South America to work as missionaries for the cult. They moved to Caracas, Venezuela.While in Caracas, their second daughter, Liberty Butterfly was born. They were very poor and River and his sister Rain had to sing and play the guitar in the streets to get money for the family. They took the name- Los niños rubios que cantan --the Blonde Children Who Sing.

Soon, John and Arlyn became very disillusioned with the cult, saying that the leader just got crazy. It seemed he was only interested in recruiting wealthy converts through sex. The Phoenixes had to move to a beach hut outside Caracas. River remembers it, "It was disgusting, it was a shack.It had no toilet and was rat-infested".

They were without any money. Sometimes John and Arlyn didn't eat so that their children could. Arlyn became pregnant again and they decided they had to leave Venezuela soon.

River spent his seventh birthday eating coconuts and mangoes that had fallen from the trees. But River never felt frightened, "When you're raised on the road, you don't fear this things; you don't question them.We had faith, a lot of faith."

With the help of a priest, the family managed to stow away on a freigther which was taking toys to the U.S.. In the middle of the journey they were discovered, but the crew realized Arlyn was pregnant, and they were so charmed by the rest of the family that they were treated very well. They even gave them damaged toys as presents.

The family arrived in Florida in late 1978, without money or personal possessions, except for a guitar that had been given to River as a gift. River did not attend school during any of this time. This left him extremely undereducated when compared to other children his age.

In Dec, 1978, Arlyn gave birth to her fifth child, Summer Joy. Rio's family moved in with Arlyn's parents, and Rio was sent to a school, but he had a lot of problems there because he was very different from the rest. "When I was in my first grade everyone made fun of my name, of course."

John began to work trying to save money because he didn't want to live maintained by Arlyn parents, but in 1979, while he was working, he sustained a back injury which left him unable to work any longer. Now, Arlyn had to take charge of the things. In April, 1979 the family decided to change their surname to Phoenix. According to legend, the Phoenix is a mythological bird who rises from the ashes. The family thought that this was an appropriate symbol for the change that was occuring in their own lives.

In their free time River and Rain continued playing, and they performed at Hernando Fiesta, where a reviewer wrote a very good article about them.The Paramount Studios were informed of the children's successes and invited the Phoenixes to go there for an interview.

"I'd figured I'd play the guitar and sing with my sister and we would be on television the next day."--Rio declared.

Arlyn got a job at NBC-TV as a secretary. Here, she was able to see all the adverstiments for TV commercials, and Rio used to go to the auditions with his father. By this time, Arlyn knew Iris Burton, a children's talent agent, and she signed Rio on. "River was the most beautiful child you've ever seen, like a little Elvis."

Rio appeared in some commercials, but suddenly decided not to do them anymore because it was not what his parents supported. Iris was astonished by this.

In 1982, Rio was called by CBS for a new TV series called "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". River got the role of the youngest brother. He played with Richard Dean Anderson (McGyver).

All the Phoenix family moved to California to support Rio, but some problems appeared because of their vegan lifestyle. He had to wear leather boots, but his vegan beliefs frowned on the use of animal products in any form.

After 22 episodes the series was cancelled and the Phoenixes were without money again. Rio had to go with his father to all the auditions. His father began to rely more and more on alcohol to ease his own burdens. Rio, in the meanwhile, was feeling the pressure to find a role so that he could once again support the family.

River finally got work in the film "Explorers". River worked with Jason Presson and Ethan Hawke, who were kids of his own age. Finally, Rio could socialize with kids of his age. The problems with his vegetarianism went on, but this time John let Rio to wear leather to make things easier for everyone.

Rio was very sad to leave his new friends when the film finished: "River was weeping and crying when Ethan got the bus to leave to go home to New Jersey" says Joe Dante, director of the film.

After the film in 1985, Iris Burton got an audition for him with Rob Reiner for a role in the film "Stand By Me". River did the audition along with 300 other youngsters, and he was the first one cast for the film.

During this film Rio became very good friends with the others, especially with Corey Feldman. He learned to smoke and took marijuana for the first time. He also lost his virginity with an eighteen-year-old friend of the family. Rio asked his parents for their blessing, and they gave it to him. Moreover, they decorated a tent for them. "A very strange experience"-River declared.

This film made River a star. His face was in all the magazines,he received thousands of letters from fans asking for autographs, and everybody told him that he was going to be a great star,... hard things for a shy fifteen-year-old boy to handle.

Iris Burton hired a caretaker for Rio, Larry McHale, who did everything with Rio, from taking care of his food to being his friend. Arlyn hired a teacher for the children, Ed Squires, who discovered that Rio suffered from dyslexia, but their parents didn't want to believe him and didn't seek help.

Iris and Arlyn were concentrating on finding a new role for Rio.He had a lot of offers from all the directors, but Rio had his own problems. He had no real friends outside his family. his only friend was Larry, and he introduced Rio to some friends of his in L.A. Many of them were involved in drugs.

River was experimenting with alcohol and drugs and hid it from his parents, because by this time, he was speaking out against drugs in interviews, "I've tried marijuana a few times, but I don't like it"- Rio declared to People magazine after his sixteenh birthday-"I get really boring in marijuana. It makes me dull."

At the end of 1986, Rio got his next role in the film "The Mosquito Coast" and he traveled with his father to the Central American jungle of Belize. By this time, John blamed himself more and more for losing his son who was being captured by Hollywood. He tried to escape with Rio to other places, but Rio told him that he had to study his lines and be responsible. In this film, he worked with Martha Plimpton, who would became his girlfriend. Rio became good friends with Harrison Ford who thought a lot of him.

Rio was having some serious problems because he had became a teen-idol followed by scores of teeny-bopppers, and he hated that. He only wanted to be recognised as a serious adult actor.

But his next two films, "A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon" and "Little Nikitta" made him even more of a teen idol. Meanwhile, John Phoenix was becoming more and more depressed. He wanted Rio to leave his acting career and start a new life with the money he had. Rio faced problems that one as young as he should not be concerned with. He felt he couldn't save his father because he was not considered a serious adult actor, and because he had to maintain all his family.

By this time Rio began to experiment with cocaine and hallucinogenic drugs.

The next film Rio did was "Running on Empty".He was nominated for an Academy Award, but Kevin Kline won it. He went to the ceremony with Martha Plimpton and his mother Arlyn.

After the completion of this film, Rio and his family moved to Gainesville, Florida, a place with a strong music scene. River was very happy there. He was able to have friends and be anonymous. He let his hair to grow out and combed it over his face whenever he went out.

Rio persuaded a friend from L.A., Josh Greenbaum, to move to his home to create a band there. They spent long hours playing songs and going around making connections for their music.

A new member, Josh McKay, a guitarist from Denton, joined the band and came to live with the family. Rain offered to play keyboards and sing harmony and they got a classically trained viola player, Tim Hankins. River and Rain were playing together again, just like when they were children. They decided to call the band Aleka's Attic.

By June of 1988, all the Phoenix family and the persons who lived with them moved to a twenty-acre spread in Micanopy, twelve miles outside Gainesville.They called the place Camp Phoenix. They lived there like hippies and were very conscious of the environment, using only recycled items and never eating any meat.

Martha Plimpton went to spend the summer with the Phoenixes and was surprised at Rio's involvement with drugs. He was drinking a lot, smoking marijuana, snorting cocaine and taking psychedelic drugs. He often drank with his father.

Several months after this, Martha ended her relationship with Rio, "When we split up, a lot of it was that I had learned that screaming, figthing, and begging weren't going to change him. He had to change himself, and he didn't want to yet."

Rio made two new films during this time, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" and "I Love You to Death".

River concentrated on his music to forget his sorrows and every weekend his band used to play around Gainesville. It was in the fall of 1989, that Rio met Sue Solgot, a saxophonist from another band.

When he knew the twenty-five-year-old saxophone player, Rio was in the middle of shooting "Dogfigth". They met at a party where River introduced himself as Rio. A friend of Sue's told her that he was River Phoenix. He said, "I'm not that guy, I'm nothing like him."

Soon Rio and Sue began dating and later they moved in together to a flat in the most expensive area of Gainesville, twenty minutes from Camp Phoenix.

John Phoenix had become very unhappy in Micanopy, and Rio bought him a ranch in Costa Rica, where he went to live. Rio, Rain, and Joaquin flew sometimes to see their father .By this time Arlyn had changed her name to Heart.

Rio was now responsible fpr the family's income. He bought a house for his grandparents in Palm Beach.

It was around this time when Keanu Reeves convinced Rio to take the role of Mike Waters in the film "My Own Private Idaho". River was very happy to do this film, since this could be the vehicle for his success as serious adult actor.

Five months before the beginning of the film, Rio and Keanu flew to Portland and stayed with Van Sant. They used to go and stay with the hustlers to watch what they did. Rio's character was based on a hustler friend of Van Sant's, Mike Parker, who became a very close-friend of Rio's.

Rio became deeply immersed in this character. By November of 1990, Rio was a sad-eyed, pimply boy and dressed like a homeless person. You couldn't tell where Rio ended and Mike Waters began.

Some nights they used to play music in Van Sant's garage, and when everyone went to sleep, Rio used to go to his bedroom and went on playing until he couldn't anymore. After the six month son the set, Rio returned home. His friends didn't recognize him. He was temperamental and moody, and he was out of control, using drugs and alcohol daily.

Aleka's Attic was having problems, their members were fed up waiting for Rio everytime he went out for a movie. Tim Haskins was the first to leave the band.

Rio spent the next four moths traveling between Portland and L.A. and leaving Sue alone. She finally decided to separate from River. She thought it best for their relationship.Sue was very concerned about Rio's drug abuse, about his public persona, and his drinking and drug use, but everytime she tried to talk him about it, he lost control and became very angry. River thought he was invincible and used to tell Sue, "What would those twelve-year-old girls with a picture of me above their bed think if they knew?"

In October of 1991, River moved to L.A. to prepare for his next film, "Sneakers". By this time, River had started using one of the drugs he hadn't taken yet, heroin. His friend Josh Greenbaum talked to him about leaving the drugs alone, but he was unsuccessful.

In this film Rio knew Dan Akroyd, who also realised the problem Rio had and tried to help him. Rio decided to lay off heroin.

By the summer of 1992, Rio and Sue had finally split up, and Rio was using more and more drugs. He used heroin again, and still he did not acknowledge the fact thathe had a problem. Rio used to phone Martha Plimpton frequently on nights when he felt depressed.

Rio's next film was "Silent Tongue", His drug abuse was not clearly shown in this film because he played a mad person.

But Rio was, like always, there to help his friends. He used to call a drug counselor , Bob Timmins, but never for him, always for his friends.

River signed for his next film, "The Thing Called Love", and earned for this film $1.5 million. By now, the drug use was taking its toll. He was very thin, always morose, and even more important to his career, he was losing his creative edge because of the drugs. He dyed his hair brown for this film and wore brown contact lenses.

In this film, River would work with Samantha Mathis, who would become his last girlfriend. The two fell in love and became inseparable.

The Christmas of 1992 should have been a warning for Rio. He spent it in L.A., buying cocaine and heroine for him and his friends. His close-friend, Flea, was becoming very worried about him. One day at the home of Bobby Bukowski, Rio collapsed after a speedball of heroine and cocaine, and fell into unconsciousness. When he recovered, he was consuming some of his clean vegan food, when Bobby told him, "I'd rather you just point a gun at your head and pull the trigger. I want to see you become an old man, so we can be old friends together."

Rio broke into tears and swore he would never touch drugs again. "That's the end of dugs,"Rio promised,"I don't want to go down to the place that's so dark it'll annihilate me".

Rio was falling deeper into depression. He only seemed truly happy when he was acting. "That's the only time I have security",Rio said."My self is a bum! My self is nothing! I'm a peon. I'm an idiot.I'm totally removed.I'm in the closet.I'm out of sight.You can't touch me."

On September 6, 1993, Rio and Samantha flew to the village of Torrey, in the Utah desert, so he could begin his new, last, and unreleased film, "Dark Blood". River had cut his hair very short and had dyed it dark. He had been sober since his birthday two weeks ago, and he felt better than he had in years.

River was working in this film with his favourite actor, Jonathan Pryce, and with Judy Davis, who was not getting on well with Rio.That was not a good thing for Rio who was trying to recover from the drugs.

Things began to go bad on the set. Hard rains began, and it became impossible to work in places. Rio said, "Somebody's going to die in this film".

Later they moved to New Mexico to go on with the set of the film.

Later, they moved to New Mexico to go on with the film. As he was not needed to be on the set for some days, Rio flew to L.A. with Samantha. They went to the hotel Nikko,in Beverly Hills. Rio had been under stress for seven weeks, and he spent three days taking drugs again.He had to work again on Saturday, so he took a valium to put him in condition to work.In the studio, he claimed that he had not gotten enough sleep.

They were shooting all day until 7:00 in the evening, and then a limousine took Rio to his hotel. There with Samantha were Joaquin and Rain who had come for an audition. A party began in the hotel. They began to drink, smoke marijuana and snort cocaine. It was Saturday night, Halloween Eve, and Rio had planned to meet his friends, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, in a club called the Viper Room, owned by Johnny Depp, where they were going to play an unannounced set.

They all arrived at the Viper Room after midnight. Many were dressed in costumes for Halloween. Rio met them his drug friends,and one of them offered him a taste some high-grade heroin he had,"Try this, it will make you feel fabulous." At 12:45 a.m., the two went into the men's room, so that Rio could take it.

The moment Rio snorted it he started trembling add shaking, "What did you give me? What the fuck is in it?". He began to vomit and then someone helped him, splashing cold water on his face and giving him some valium. Then Rio went with Samantha, Joaquin and Rain. He began to complain he couldn't breath and suddenly passed out. When he came to, he asked Samantha to take him out.

Samantha and Joaquin helped him to go out to Sunset Boulevard. As soon as they got out, Rio collapsed on the sidewalk.It was at 1:00 a.m.Rio was having seizures. He began to shake uncontrollably. Rain, who had just arrived from inside the club tried to give her brother mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.Rio had another seizure. Samantha was walking around very nervous, unable to say anything, and Joaquin went to call 911, while Rio had his third seizure.

It was 1:10 a.m. and Joaquin told 911,"My brother's having seizures. Now, I'm thinking he's had a valium or something. You must get here, please, because he's dying."

After this Joaquin put his arm around Rio and started to say that he was going to be all right.

The last seizures were fifteen to twenty seconds, but finally after eight minutes of seizures, Rio lay still. Terrified,Joaquin shouted, "Oh my God, he's not breathing!"

By that time, the paramedics arrived, and at 1:14 a.m., River was in cardiac arrest with no signs of a pulse or blood pressure. The paramedics began giving him CPR because they were told he had taken drugs. Rain, Joaquin and Samantha denied any knowledge of Rio taking drugs.

When they arrived at the hospital, Rio's skin was dark blue, but his body was still warm. Doctors battled for forty minutes trying to save him, even inserting a pacemaker to stimulate his heart, but it was too late. At 1:51 a.m., River Phoenix was pronounced dead.