Who Is Jodean Bottom Joaquin Phoenixs Sister

Jodean Bottom (born 29th February 1964; Age: 59 years old) is an American resident best known as the elder sister of Joaquin Phoenix, an actor, singer, and producer.

Jodean was born to Joaquin Phoenix’s dad, John Lee Bottom, from his relationship with Trinity. The Phoenix siblings previously didn’t know of her existence until she was found and reunited with the family by the eldest son, River Phoenix.

Jodean Bottom was born on 29th February 1964, and this pegs her age at 59. Though she is listed as an American citizen, Jodean’s actual place of birth is Amadora in Portugal. Her ethnicity is listed as White. Jodean is the daughter of John Lee Bottom, a former missionary who served with the cult “The Children of God.”

John died in 2005 at the age of 68 from complications from cancer. Nothing much is known about her mum, but she is known as Trinity. Trinity single-handedly trained Jodean and brought her up to follow Christianity. When Jodean was younger, she had an accident that led to the loss of her left eye.

The academic institutions she attended were not documented, but according to reports, Jodean Bottom attended a high school in her locality where she played basketball and soccer. She also displayed interest in acting and appeared in two school plays. She achieved her high school graduation in 1982, and there is no further academic pursuit reported for her.

John Lee Bottom was never married to Trinity. How and where they met was never disclosed, but reports said they dated for a brief period. The duo was still going strong when John was beaten by the fear of the Vietnam draft.

This led him to migrate to Canada and thus lose all contact with Trinity, who he didn’t know was pregnant with Jodean. Because of this, Jodean had no contact with her father during her formative years.

Jodean Bottom might be her mother’s only child, Trinity, but she gained five half-siblings from her dad’s marriage to Arlyn Phoenix, also known as Arlyn Dunetz.

Four years after Jodean was born, John got married to Arlyn Phoenix in 1968, and two years later, they gave birth to their first child, River Jude Phoenix, on 23rd August 1970.

River soon became a big brother to Rain Phoenix, who announced her entrance on 21st November 1972.

The family welcomed their second son, Joaquin Phoenix, on 28th October 1974, and Liberty or Mariposa Phoenix joined the brood on 5th July 1976. The last child of the family is Summer Phoenix, who came on 10th December 1978.

Except for Jodean Bottom. Every other member of the Phoenix family is involved in the entertainment industry in one capacity or another. The eldest son, River, grew up to become an actor and musician. Rain is an actress and singer, while the most famous is Joaquin – a muti-award-winning actor, producer, singer, and animal activist.

Liberty also followed in the family profession and is currently working as an actress. The baby of the family, Summer is not just an actress, but she is renowned as a model cum designer.

When River died from a drug overdose at the age of 23, Jodean Bottom was utterly shattered for obvious reasons. Recall that the Phoenix siblings didn’t know of Jodean’s existence until a close friend of their family revealed many things to them. Of the five, only River took it upon himself to look for their missing half-sister.

When he located Jodean, River did everything possible to reunite her with the family, where all her siblings openly received her. Jodean already had a daughter at the time River found her, and she brought her daughter along.

Needless to say, River’s efforts to find and reunite Jodean with her lost family endeared her to the late actor; she had great shock when he died. Reports said it was not just River that whole-heartedly embraced Jodean when she was found; other family members like Joaquin also embraced her, and they have remained close ever since. In fact, Jodean Bottom is best known as Joaquin’s sister.

The change of the last name in the family happened when Jodean Bottom was estranged from her dad. John Lee Bottom was afraid of the Vietnam draft, which led him to relocate to Canada, losing all contact with his girlfriend Trinity and didn’t even know she was already pregnant with Jodean.

That was where John met and married American social activist Arlyn Sharon Phoenix in 1968 and gave birth to five children in a marriage that lasted for 30 years. John, who came from an impoverished background, had to work from a very young age and forfeit his education. He got odd jobs like carpenter, gardener, and more.

By the time he got married in 1968, John had joined a cult called “The Children of God.” The family was still bearing his last name Bottom by the time the Cult invited them to live in their main commune in Crockett, Texas. That was when Jodean’s father became the archbishop of the Caribbean and Venezuela for the Cult.

The Bottom family then relocated to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the children were forced to earn a living as street performers as money was in short supply; the Cult wasn’t paying its missionaries. The children were constantly on the streets preaching to people about the Cult, and whenever they failed to come home with loose change, the entire family would go to bed hungry.

Soon Arlyn became disillusioned by the Cult when the guys in charge mandated women to lure men into the Cult through sex; there was also the issue of using kids in bizarre sexual activities. This was precisely when the Bottom family decided to abscond from the Cult and were smuggled out in 1978.

A toy-filled freighter took them to Englewood, Florida, where they started a new life with Arlyn’s family. To symbolize the beginning of their new life, Jodean Bottom’s father decided to change their last name from Bottom to his wife’s last name Phoenix.

They later settled in CA, where their mother got employment while the children continued their street performance for loose change. That was precisely where a scouting agent spotted them, and their story changed for good.

Jodean Bottom seems to be the type that does not like publicity, and since she was found and returned to the family, the mother of one hasn’t made many public appearances. We only know that she is a resident of the United States, where she is raising her daughter. Jodean’s profession is also unknown.