[Music]
he rose from the ashes of a troubled
childhood only to burn out before his
time welcome to watchmojo.com and into
this all if that's what should be I
don't mind that in fact I would rather
quit while I was ahead you know there's
no need overstaying your welcome born
river Jude bottom River entered this
world in a log cabin in Oregon his
hippie parents named him after an
inspirational river in Hermann Hesse's
philosophical novel Siddhartha Jude came
from the Beatles song four siblings
would follow each with their own unique
name rain Joaquin liberty and summer but
by all accounts their upbringing was
extremely difficult that a normal family
and a good upbringing and I would have
been a well-adjusted person yeah when
River was just 2 years old his parents
joined the children of God the bottoms
drifted into a religious cult called the
children of God which blended
traditional Christianity with the hippie
lifestyle the children of God were a
group of young nomads and hippies who
refused to adhere to the capitalist
system calling those who did system i'ts
the adults didn't work and the children
didn't attend school
this included River and his siblings he
told the Chicago Tribune quote I would
sing at jails with my sister and stand
on street corners passing out literature
containing uplifting messages he would
also play his guitar on the streets as a
way to make small amounts of money every
little bit helped River began playing
guitar on street corners and singing
with his sister rain they sang to
attract potential converts and more
importantly to earn a living
in other words River and his family were
in a religious cult like a lot of cults
at the time they lived in communes and
were adamant that the end was nigh the
cult gained notoriety for their highly
controversial sexual practices including
allegations of child sexual abuse the
allegations including the cults founder
David Brant Berg who was accused of
abusing his
own daughters and granddaughters it was
also well known for a practice called
flirty fishing flirty fishing was when
the female members of the group would go
out into the public and persuade men to
join the cult by offering their bodies
Berg's daughter later referred to it as
quote religious prostitution and it was
this practice that persuaded rivers
parents to leave the cult River didn't
speak much about his time in the
children of God although he once said
that they were disgusting that they kind
of gone into a faith crisis that they
weren't comfortable and the children of
God anymore and they wanted to leave
homeless destitute all the bottom family
had left were each other leaving the
cult was certainly the right moral and
spiritual decision to make but a
challenging financial one after
literally sneaking out of the cult the
family found themselves poor and
homeless in Caracas Venezuela which is
where they'd been stationed rivers
parents had also experienced intense
pain and loneliness following their
departure from the once welcoming cult
at the end of 1977 after leaving the
children of God cult riverbottom and his
family was stranded in Caracas to pay
for their room and board at a local
Catholic Church River and his sister
Raine played there they lived in a beach
hut for a couple of months before
hitching a ride to Florida on a
commercial freighter it was around this
time the family decided to change their
surname to Phoenix a proud metaphor for
their prolonged struggles and hopes for
the future a symbolic rising from the
ashes by moving base camp kids have you
tracks his whole life he's been paying
the price of their beliefs we can't keep
running away from something that you had
nothing to do with you deserve your own
chance and it seemed to work because
life did get better back in the States
River remembers rich children giving
them their old clothes and he and his
sister began winning local talent
contests we'd come out to Los Angeles to
UM to make it and and at the time I was
nine years old and my sister was seven
and we wanted to be recording artist
which was a bit far-fetched
I suppose it word of their
accomplishments eventually made the
papers and these papers made their way
to Paramount Pictures in Hollywood they
contacted the Phoenix family and told
them to drop by sometime
so Phoenix's parents threw them all in a
station wagon and made their way out to
Hollywood right rub back mr. Havelock
the sheriff what what are you gonna do
thank you
[Music]
in Los Angeles rivers mother landed a
job at NBC meanwhile River and Joaquin
began performing on the streets for
spare change where they caught the
attention of acting agent iris Burton
Burton was enamored with the children
and their talents and signed them on as
clients
then later on we got into you know
commercials for financial reasons and in
acting became you know attractive
concept so we pursued River soon landed
work in commercials and other small time
gigs including the short-lived CBS
musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
and numerous made-for-tv movies dream
and vision tonight of the lap
seven brothers bold and strong his big
break came in 1986 when he was cast in
the critically acclaimed it stand by me
swear that people think of my family of
the stone it's the way they think of me
just one of those little life chambers
kids that's not true oh it is no one
even asked me if I took the milk money
that time I just got a three-day
vacation
Rivers co-star Wil Wheaton attributes
the movie's success to the casting and
grew attached to River throughout the
filming process calling him a quote one
of the kindest people I'd ever been
around just think I'm weird
definitely no man seriously yeah but so
on everybody's weird the role helps make
River a star and it seemed like his
metaphorical surname had finally proved
decisive he soon became a well-known
activist for animal rights and
environmental awareness they asked their
parents they said what is this why are
they killing these animals and I said
well that's when you meet fish this is
how they do it you kill the animal and
the kids were horrified and they never
again a fish or meat of any kind but
River was never happy in his fame after
his death
rivers mother told Esquire quote he
became more and more uncomfortable being
the poster boy for all good things he
often said he wished he could just be
anonymous but he never was I think
there's a lot of pressure in Hollywood
you know there's a lot of pressure to do
you know to be a lot of things that
maybe he wasn't his financial success
also proved to be a burden and he began
taking on a more paternal role in the
family his father had struggled with
alcoholism and with River being the
eldest and most successful child he felt
it was his duty to provide for his
family
River was the leader of a kind of a
merry band of feral children he was it
was his idea to perform on the streets
to get money to send the kids to school
he was the one that led the family into
vegetarianism his girlfriend fellow
actors cement the mathis recounted to
the Guardians something that River had
once said to her in their last year
together River told her quote I just
have to make one more movie to put away
enough money so my youngest sister can
go to college it's a statement that
perfectly captures rivers generosity and
maturity
unfortunately River would pass away in
the early morning of October
thirty-first in 1993 at just 23 years
old while there are different accounts
of what happened what we do know is that
River died from a dangerous concoction
of cocaine and heroin often called a
speedball the autopsy report claims that
there were no drugs in his nasal
passages or needle tracks on his body
and the conclusion seemed to be that
River had swallowed the concoction as a
drink it also claims that he had eight
times the lethal dosage in his
bloodstream this aligns with stories
concerning the night in question River
had gone to the Viper Room a Hollywood
club owned by Johnny Depp with a Red Hot
Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante
director William Richard claims that
Samantha Mathis told him that frusciante
gave River a cup and told him to drink
it promising that he'd feel fabulous
it's possible that the content was meant
to be sipped and shared but told to
drink it River down the whole cup God
knows how many of us would have drunk
something in that state and a night off
from a difficult time
so but nobody stopped him really and
nobody helped him and nobody said we
were getting a car it's time to go home
after doing so he shook and fell down
and was later seen stumbling around the
bar musician Bob forest recalls that
River approached him in the bar tapped
him on the shoulder and told him that he
was overdosing good evening
Eugene please come in sit down and make
yourself comfortable I'm afraid I can't
do that I'm terribly upset nothing went
right tonight before we continue be sure
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notifications for shanthi reportedly
secluded himself following rivers death
frightened that he'd be arrested
rivers father told a reporter that if he
ever saw Frusciante he'd kill him
however rivers mother later announced
that the family was not pressing charges
my mom my sisters were the ones that
really kept his memory alive and kind of
the willingness to to talk about it
rain has this beautiful lyric in her
song in my mind I still see your light I
keep it alive in a 2018 interview at the
guardian however Malthus said that she
was in the bathroom when River took the
fatal dose in her words quote I have my
suspicions about what was going on but I
didn't see anything when she returned
from the bathroom she saw River in a
fight with another patron they were both
kicked out by a bouncer and river began
convulsing whatever happened that night
the result was the same River overdosed
and his family and girlfriend were there
to see it charlie
do a girlfriend
I could be your girlfriend if you want
his brother Joaquin Phoenix called 911
sister rain tried to resuscitate him he
was still alive when the ambulance
arrived but was later pronounced dead at
cedars-sinai hospital when he collapsed
his brother called 911 the tranquilizer
valium in his friend it was a horribly
tragic way for Rivard to go and capped a
life full of difficulties he's
remembered today as a beautiful soul who
fought to rise above misfortune and who
was taken from us far too soon
[Music]
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