Arlyn Phoenix

Arlyn Sharon Phoenix (born December 31, 1944), commonly known as Heart Phoenix, is the mother of acclaimed performers River Phoenix , Rain Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, Liberty Phoenix, and Summer Phoenix. She is currently the secretary of The Peace Alliance, an organization which supports the creation of a United States Department of Peace.

She was born Arlyn Sharon Dunetz in the Bronx, New York. Her parents were Jewish immigrants; her mother, Margaret, from Hungary, and her father, Mayer, from Russia. She has two sisters, Rhoda and Merle.

By the time Arlyn was born, the Dunetz family had become more 'culturally Jewish'; they celebrated Jewish holidays, but did not attend synagogue. Once out of school, she married a computer programmer, moved to Manhattan, and began working as a secretary. She eventually grew tired of this lifestyle:

<blockquote>

"At eighteen, I was just a clone, totally unconscious. I didn't know that the air was polluted and I didn't care. I just went to work and thought that everything the Government told me was right and true. It took some time before I awakened. I became aware. It was difficult because my parents weren't seeing the same things, but I knew I had to change my life."

</blockquote>

Wanting to seek new horizons, she left New York in 1968 and headed west towards California. While hitch-hiking she met John Lee Bottom. John, born on June 14 1947, is from Fontana, California. They got married on September 13, 1969 in California.

Soon after their first son River was born in 1970, they joined the religious cult, The Children of God, touring Mexico and South America as Christian missionaries for several years. Arlyn and John renamed themselves for a brief period, taking the Bible names Jochebed and Amram, respectively.