"I'm not going to impose my belief on my child. I don't think that's right."
Actor Joaquin Phoenix has said that he won't force his son to be vegan.
Phoenix is an outspoken advocate for animal rights and is vegan himself, but has said that he will not tell his child what to do or how to live his life. However he did says that whilst he won't force him to be vegan, he will also no "perpetuate the lie" that there is anything "happy" about McDonald's.
Speaking to the
Sunday Times, Phoenix said: "Well, certainly I would hope that [he is vegan], but I'm not going to impose my belief on my child. I don't think that's right.
"I'm going to educate him about the reality. I'm not going to indoctrinate him with the idea that McDonald's have a Happy Meal because there's nothing f*cking happy about that meal.
"And I'm not going to tell him that it's OK to read books about all the wonderful little farm animals, and they say 'oink oink oink' and 'moo moo moo,' and not tell him that that's what a hamburger is.
"So I'm not going to perpetuate the lie, but I'm also not going to force him to be vegan. I'll support him. That's my plan."
The actor has spoken about his beliefs before. In his acceptance speech for his Best Actor award at the Oscars in 2020, Phoenix said: "We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow.
"And when she gives birth we steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable, and then we take her milk that's intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal."
Phoenix and his wife Rooney Mara welcomed their baby boy into the world last September, and named him River, in honour of Joaquin's late brother who died in 1993.
