lt was probably the one time you don't want to be permanently captured on celluloid for the rest of your life." My hair looked like I had an Afro and I'd just gotten my period. "I was in the absolute throws of puberty. And after years of working in TV, 15-year old Rain made her film debut, Maid to Order. It was River who hit the big time first – he received an Oscar nomination at the age of 18 for his role in Running on Empty about a family on the run from the FBI. "At the time it seemed so obvious and normal, it was just how we felt," she says, "but I guess looking back you could say it was a bit strange and very mature." That very night when they got home, River, Rain and Joaquin declared to their parents that the entire family was to turn vegan. Rain tells me the story of when they took the decision to turn vegan – how they were on a ship to Florida when they saw a group of fishermen thrashing fish against some nails sticking out of the side of the boat. The Phoenix children were obviously quite a talented and precocious force. That is really how we felt it isn't just a statement, it was how we behaved." We realised there was a shared aspect of success – that at different times each individual was poised to shine, and supporting that was the most important thing. "There was never any competitiveness between us. It was an incredibly selfless act," says Rain. "My parents really were very dedicated to us, and in some ways they gave up many of the things they had had in their 20s to help us find what it was we dreamed of. Nothing was off limits apart from commercials for meat, milk and junk food (they were vegans). "There are so many beautiful things about the industry as well as really hideous things it was almost like having an insider." All five siblings were signed up to an agent, schooling became a jumble of tutoring on film sets, home teaching and stints in traditional classrooms, and their careers began. "In her job my mum learned a lot about the good and bad aspects of Hollywood," says Rain. They moved to LA where Arlyn got a job as a secretary with a casting agent at NBC, right in the heart of the slippery Hollywood talent pool, and they embarked on a course that would set about turning their children into stars. Arlyn and John ditched ordinary old Bottom as a surname and picked Phoenix – with its connotations of a magical bird rising up out of the ashes. Then in 1979, after the birth of their fifth child, things took a slightly different course. I get fidgety if I'm in one place for longer than three months." "In some respects I can't help but be a bit of a gypsy as an adult. "Travelling was a big part of my childhood and one that I value very much," says Rain. Each of their children was born in a different American state (Rain in Texas) and much of their early life was spent on the road. It was a laid back, free-spirited, hippy existence. In 1973, just after River and Rain were born, they joined a religious sect called the Children of God for which they worked as missionaries, supporting themselves by fruit picking and other odd jobs. The couple were archetypal flower children. While she was hitchhiking in northern California, a young songwriter called John Bottom picked her up. In the late 60s she got wind of the counter-culture movement that was spreading across America, and set off on a voyage of discovery. "At times it's been a source of solace, just knowing that's my name." Their mother, Arlyn, was born in the Bronx to Jewish parents who had emigrated from Russia. "I feel honoured they chose to give it me," she says. With names such as these it's no surprise to hear that the Phoenix parents were both bone fide, flowers-in-their-hair hippies.
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