Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen would already have another actor in the family if their daughter Briar Rose Christensen wanted it.
Bilson and Christensen welcomed their daughter on October 29, 2014, six years after meeting on the set of the 2008 film. Sweater. Since then, Bilson and Christensen have gone their separate ways — they ended their relationship in 2017 — but they opened up about co-parenting and why they were successful at it.
“The key is communication and just being on the same page so it’s all about the baby,” Bilson told PEOPLE in 2021. “As long as you put the baby first, everything will be fine.”
Bilson and Christensen also revealed several of Briar’s interests — including Taylor Swift, cooking and wanting to be an actor like her parents. But at the same time, OC star and Star Wars the actor was careful to protect his child’s privacy, including not posting photos of her face on social media.
Rachel Bilson reveals helping daughter, 7, calm nightmares: ‘Real achievement’
Bilson also said that when it comes to dating, she won’t introduce her daughter to anyone unless it’s a “very serious relationship.” However, she does not hide that parenting is a key aspect of her life.
“She is my world and I always talk about her anyway. How the hell would I have hidden it?” Bilson said further Viall files in 2019. “If you’re going to do something with someone, they have to be interested in the child or willing to be around the child or look after the child…all those things.”
Here’s everything you need to know about Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen’s daughter, Briar Rose Christensen.
She was born on October 29, 2014
Briar Rose Christensen at Disneyland 2019.
Rachel Bilson’s Instagram
Bilson and Christensen welcomed their daughter, Briar Rose Christensen, on Oct. 29, 2014. Bilson’s rep confirmed the news to PEOPLE in a statement that read, “Both mother and baby are healthy and doing well.” A source previously confirmed to PEOPLE in May 2014 that the couple is expecting a child.
At the time, Bilson and Christensen had been together for about six years, although at one point they took a brief break from their relationship. The couple got engaged in late 2009, but called it off in the summer of 2010. Despite reconciling, the couple eventually split for good in 2017 after nearly 10 years together.
It has a name inspired by a fairy tale
If the name Briar Rose sounds familiar, that’s because she was named after a Disney princess — or, more accurately, the original Brothers Grimm story that inspired her. Briar Rose is the name of Sleeping Beauty in the Brothers Grimm’s version of the folk tale, and in the Disney version, Aurora’s character is called Briar Rose as a child.
“There’s a Disney reference in there, I guess,” Christensen said on the Hallmark Channel Home and family 2015. “The Original Sleeping Beauty Is Named Briar Rose.”
He added: “We both love all things Disney – but Rachel in particular was very keen on the name. Disney songs are currently playing around the house 24/7.”
She debuted on Instagram when she was 9 months old
Rachel Bilson’s Instagram
When Briar was 9 months old, Bilson first shared a photo of her on Instagram — but she was sure to hide her baby’s face. The picture shows Briar and Christensen sitting on a blanket in the park as the actor blows bubbles for his daughter.
Since then, although the parents share rare snaps of Briar without showing her face, they generally choose to keep her life as private as possible.
“They don’t choose to be the center of attention themselves, you know. When they’re old enough and they want to do it, and that’s what they do, then that’s fine. But it’s not like I want to promote my kid or put her out there,” Bilson said Viall files.
However, she recognized that because of the paparazzi, it was particularly difficult for her to keep her daughter as far away from the public eye as possible.
“They don’t care,” the Hart of Dixie said the actress. “The other day I saw a picture of my daughter somewhere and she’s looking at the camera smiling because she has no idea. She thinks someone is just taking a picture of her… it’s so innocent, but it crushed me. Like, ‘No! You don’t know what they’re doing!’ ”
Bilson also shared some rare photos of her daughter in honor of her 10th birthday in October 2024. “Happy birthday my sweet, darling, darling, beautiful girl. You are my reason. TEN!” she wrote in the description.
She’s a Swiftie
Briar got the chance to attend Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, but she wasn’t happy when she had to go home before the last song.
“We left early,” Bilson said on her podcast Broad ideas in August 2023. “Briar’s friend Aria danced her to ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ — she was feeling it — and then she just turned around, sat down in her seat, and passed out.”
The problem was: Briar wasn’t as tired as her friends from the concert. Bilson continued, “Everyone around us was laughing because it was so cute. Briar wanted to stay until the end, but her two friends had just finished. So we left early. Briar was so mad about it. She was so mad .”
Despite Briar’s anger, The last kiss the star is pleased that Swift was her daughter’s first concert.
“It was a really cool experience except it was Briar’s first concert and I’m like, ‘Where do you go from here?’ ” Bilson said of Swift’s show. “For my daughter to see this, I think it’s so happy. It’s one woman, she’s writing her own s—, she’s really talented and she’s doing it and like, look what she’s done.”
She wants to be an actress like her parents
Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson at the 2007 Spike TV Video Game Awards.
Michael Tran/FilmMagic
With two parents who are actors, it’s no surprise that Briar is intrigued by their careers. But Bilson said she didn’t expect Briar to want to become an actor herself so soon.
“She had already said she wanted to act, and I asked, ‘How are we going to handle this?’ Bilson said in the podcast Mom bets in 2021. “I think keeping it away from her as long as possible is our best bet… That’s not what I would want for her at this age.”
Bilson also shared how much her then-6-year-old daughter understood her and Christensen’s work. “I think she knows that her mom – and her dad are actors as well – so she kind of knows that we’re in that world,” she explained. “But she is not aware of that level.”
Bilson added: “I think she knows he was in there Star Warsbut she has no idea what that even means because she didn’t see anything. She has an idea, but not really. I would like it to stay that way.”
She didn’t see Star Wars — more
In a recent interview, Christensen revealed what Briar knows when it comes to that Star Wars franchise in which he famously plays Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.
“She knows I’m in favor Star Wars and that I play this character, but she has never seen it before. So, I’m coming to that. I’m trying to find my best entry point,” Christensen said during one episode Diversity“Actors About Actors” series in June 2023 “There are some disturbing scenes that I am reluctant to watch at this age.”
Christensen said he was able to introduce Briar to more than that Star Wars when he appeared in the spinoff TV series Obi-Wan Kenobi.
“It was really nice to work Obi-Wan show and actually bring her on set,” he continued. “Not when I was in the Darth Vader suit, but we were doing a flashback sequence and I had to play Anakin, so I brought her on set for that and she saw me swinging a lightsaber with Ewan [McGregor].”
He added: “She was very concerned about my well-being. She was afraid that one of us would get hurt.”
She went to a Star Wars theme park
Richard Harbaugh/Disneyland Resort
She may not have seen the movies yet, but Briar got another inside look Star Wars when she visited Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland with her father for her fifth birthday in 2019. A series of photos from Christensen and his daughter’s visit have been released, including one showing Briar — photographed from behind — holding a purple lightsaber.
During the appearance at the 2022 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy FallonChristensen said Briar helped train him before portraying Anakin again Obi-Wan Kenobi.
“We’ve got a few lightsabers kicking around the house, and in fact, she was my first lightsaber training partner when I got back to Obi-Wan show,” Christensen shared.
She didn’t see OC anyway, whatever
Rachel Bilson celebrates her birthday with her daughter Briar Rose.
Rachel Bilson’s Instagram
While talking about her OC watch the podcast again Welcome to OC, bitches! during her episode Mom betsBilson shared that she hopes it is a very long before Briar watches the series — she wants it to be “at least 35.”
However, she believes that her character, Summer Roberts, will become a good role model by the series finale and may be able to take on motherhood.
In the episode, Bilson was asked if she’d rather parent Summer or let Summer raise Briar, and she said, “I’d rather have Summer parent my daughter… because by the end of the show she was like 180, and I feel like was a responsible person.”
She added: “It was like a full bow… She’s going to know how to hug a tree!”
She and Bilson are “inseparable”
Bilson and Briar have a very close relationship.
“It’s so crazy, we’re pretty much inseparable,” he said Take two the star told PEOPLE in July 2024. “And she talks to me. She’s very open and will talk to me about things or what the kids are saying at school. It’s just nice that we have that dialogue.”
She has no seizures
During an August 2024 episode of her podcast Broad Ideas with Rachel Bilson and Olivia AllenBilson said that unlike some other children her age, Briar is pretty even-keeled, which makes her a “different kid” than her mom was.
“I almost feel weird talking about it with other parents because she doesn’t have seizures,” she said. “It’s just…not who she is. So if there’s ever a time when she’s off or she gets upset about something in some way, it’s completely unregulated [sic] me.”
Bilson added, “But she’s really like that and she’s so kind and that’s just her inner being.”
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Source: HIS Education