Arlyn Phoenix

Arlyn Phoenix was born on December 31, 1944, in The Bronx, New York City, the daughter of Margaret (née Lefkowitz; 1916–1998) and Meyer Dunetz (1910–1996).{{cite news|title=Rain Phoenix's unusual childhood|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jul/09/rain-phoenix-river-joaquin-family |newspaper = The Guardian |accessdate=December 11, 2014|date=July 8, 2011 |last1=Corner |first1=Lena }} Arlyn was raised with her two sisters, Rhoda and Merle (Sun). Her mother's family was from Hungary, and her father's family was from Russia. Although Arlyn's family was Jewish{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jul/09/rain-phoenix-river-joaquin-family|title=Rain Phoenix's unusual childhood|last=Corner|first=Lena|date=July 9, 2011|website=The Guardian|access-date=May 26, 2018}} and celebrated the Jewish culture and holidays, they did not attend synagogue.{{cite web|url=http://jewishjournal.com/culture/arts/5788/|title=The Days of Summer|last1=Pfefferman|first1=Naomi|date=April 11, 2002|work=Jewish Journal|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080731203722/http://jewishjournal.com/arts/article/the_days_of_summer_20020412|archivedate=July 31, 2008|url-status=dead|accessdate=April 14, 2017}}

Arlyn Phoenix left New York in 1968 and moved to California, where she met her future husband John Lee Bottom (1947–2015).{{cite web|title= Wasted: How on earth did River Phoenix, purest of all child stars, sensitive, clean-living and eco-friendly, end up dead from a drug overdose at the age of 23? The answer lies in a secret life that was shocking even by the notorious double standards of Hollywood|url= https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/wasted-how-on-earth-did-river-phoenix-purest-of-all-child-stars-sensitive-cleanliving-and-ecofriendly-end-up-dead-from-a-drug-overdose-at-the-age-of-23-the-answer-lies-in-a-secret-life-that-was-shocking-even-by-the-notorious-double-standards-of-hollywood-1465475.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100425053048/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/wasted-how-on-earth-did-river-phoenix-purest-of-all-child-stars-sensitive-cleanliving-and-ecofriendly-end-up-dead-from-a-drug-overdose-at-the-age-of-23-the-answer-lies-in-a-secret-life-that-was-shocking-even-by-the-notorious-double-standards-of-hollywood-1465475.html|url-status= dead|archive-date= April 25, 2010|work= The Independent |accessdate=December 11, 2014|date=December 5, 1993}}

They traveled together along the West Coast, picking fruit and vegetables along the way, and their first son River was born August 23, 1970.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}}

Soon after their first daughter Rain was born in 1972, they joined the religious group The Children of God and toured Mexico, Puerto Rico and South America as missionaries of the cult for several years. It was during this time that their son and daughter Joaquin and Liberty (Libertad) were born. Arlyn and John renamed themselves for a brief period, taking the biblical names Jochebed and Amram, respectively.{{cite news|title=Profile of Joaquin Phoenix|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/aug/14/patterson.culture|newspaper=The Guardian|accessdate=December 11, 2014|date=August 14, 2004|last1=Patterson|first1=John}}

The couple eventually grew disillusioned with the Children of God and left in 1977. Arlyn would later state that she and her husband were opposed to the cult's increasingly distorted rules, particularly the practice of flirty fishing.{{cite web |title=The book 'Last Night at the Viper Room' tells of River Phoenix's life before it was cut short at 22|url= http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/new-book-gavin-edwards-tells-river-phoenix-troubled-life-article-1.1477425 |work= New York Daily News|date= October 5, 2013 |accessdate=December 11, 2014}} They returned to the US in late 1977 and lived in Winter Park, Florida, where Arlyn gave birth to her youngest child, Summer. Around this time, they legally adopted the surname "Phoenix" (Arlyn later changed her name to "Heart" in 1988) and began to embrace veganism as their new diet and lifestyle.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}}

The parents took their five children and headed back to California, where Arlyn got a job as an executive secretary for NBC. She later hired an agent, Iris Burton, who eventually got all of her children acting work. John and Arlyn divorced in 1997. She is now married to her second husband, Jeffrey Weisberg.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Phoenix was the executive director of The Florida School of Traditional Midwifery for five years, one of ten accredited direct entry midwifery schools in the country.{{cite web|title= Board of Directors |url= http://midwiferyschool.org/about-us/board-of-directors|publisher=The Florida School of Traditional Midwifery|accessdate=December 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213015046/http://midwiferyschool.org/about-us/board-of-directors/|archive-date= December 13, 2014|url-status= dead}}

In 2012, she co-founded the non-profit organization River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding which provides and promotes the best practices and principles of peacebuilding and global sustainability.{{cite web|title= River Phoenix center for peace is up and running|url= http://www.ocala.com/article/20120210/ARTICLES/120219971|work=Ocala Star Banner|accessdate=December 11, 2014|date=February 10, 2012}}

She is on the Board of Directors of Peace Alliance, an organization which supports the creation of a United States Department of Peace.

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.centerforpeacebuilding.org/ River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding]

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Category:1944 births

Category:Activists from New York (state)

Category:American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent

Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent

Category:Living people

Category:Activists from the Bronx

Arlyn

Category:Former members of The Family International

Category:Jewish women activists

Category:American women activists

Category:Jewish American activists

Category:20th-century American Jews

Category:21st-century American Jews

Category:American Ashkenazi Jews