Actors Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara could be expecting their first child

This will be the first child for Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara, who got engaged in July last year. Photo: Instagram/Rooney Mara

American celebrity couple Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara are set to become parents soon.

According to Page Six, this will be the first child for Phoenix, 45, and Mara, 35, who got engaged in July last year.

The celebrity news website said on Monday (May 18) that Mara may be six months pregnant, although the fiercely private couple, who are currently self-isolating at their home in Los Angeles, have so far not commented on the report.

Mara was last seen in public on Mother's Day earlier this month in a loose-fitting T-shirt while visiting the house of her actress sister Kate, according to the Daily Mail. Kate was celebrating her first Mother's Day after welcoming her first child, a daughter, with her Fantastic Four (2015) co-star Jamie Bell in May last year.

Phoenix, who won the Best Actor Oscar for the movie Joker (2019) in February, first met Rooney Mara on the set of the 2013 movie Her.

They were dating other people at the time and Phoenix told Vanity Fair that he thought Mara despised him while they were filming, but it turned out later that she was simply shy.

"She's the only girl I ever looked up on the Internet," he told the magazine.

The two began dating in late 2016 after acting together in the movie Mary Magdalene (2018). They confirmed their engagement in July last year after several media outlets reported that Mara was spotted with a diamond ring on her finger.

Mara was previously nominated for Best Actress for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011) and Best Supporting Actress for Carol (2015) at the Oscars. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network