Joaquin Phoenix calls Rooney Mara his “wife,” sparking marriage rumors

Joaquin Phoenix just referred to his longtime love Rooney Mara as his “wife.”

When Phoenix, 49, discussed his 2020 Oscars acceptance speech during a rare podcast appearance, he sparked marriage rumors after apparently publicly referring to Mara, 39, as his “wife” for the first time.

During the September 29th episode of Just talk to Sam FragosoPhoenix revealed that he ultimately found the inspiration for the speech while “talking to my mom and my wife.”

Moments later, Phoenix referred to Mara by her first name while retelling his speech and said, “Rooney was like, ‘You should say that!’ ”

In his conversation with Fragoso, Phoenix did not provide any further information about whether he and Mara are legally married.

Representatives for Phoenix and Mara did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

The actors who met in 2012 on the set of HerThey have been publicly dating since 2017 and got engaged in 2019.

The couple are also parents to a son, River – whom they welcomed in 2020 and named after Phoenix’s late brother – and are currently expecting a second child.

Both Mara and Phoenix are often private about their relationship and personal life, but the latter previously revealed that he thought his current partner – who played his ex-wife in the sci-fi film – didn’t like him at first.

He later learned that she was just shy, he said Vanity Fair in 2019. “She’s the only girl I’ve ever searched for on the internet,” he said of Mara at the time. “We were just friends, email friends.” I had never done that before. I have never looked for a girl online.

After the couple went public with their relationship at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2017, a source told PEOPLE that the actors “seem completely natural and easy going.”

Later that year, Phoenix revealed in an interview with that the couple had begun living together T Magazine.

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Mara and Phoenix spoke publicly about their son in an exclusive guest post for PEOPLE in November 2020 about the migrant children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, writing, “As new parents, it is unbearable to imagine what that would mean.” “feeling like our child is being taken away from us for a day, let alone years.”

Since then, they have shared parts of their parenting experience several times, with Phoenix saying he hopes his son is vegan, although he would still “support” him. and Mara on how she sought advice from other working moms while bringing River along on the Women talk Set with her.

The Carol The star revealed her pregnancy with the couple’s second child on the red carpet at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year.