Jake Gyllenhaal on Private, 5-Year Romance with Jeanne Cadieu: ‘It's About Being Seen for Who We Are’ (Exclusive)

The star has penned a new children’s book inspired by his nieces, 'The Secret Society of Aunts and Uncles'

For Jake Gyllenhaal, it’s all about family.

The actor recently penned his first children’s book, The Secret Society of Aunts and Uncles (on sale Sept. 5), inspired by the close relationship he shares with sister Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard’s daughters, Ramona, 16, and Gloria, 11.

“I would love to have a family, and if it's anything like the family that my sister's raised and has cultivated, I would be proud,” Gyllenhaal tells PEOPLE in this week's issue, calling his relationship with the girls "one of the most important in my life.”

Gyllenhaal, 42, has also been in a five-year relationship with French model Jeanne Cadieu, which saw the pair navigating the pandemic lockdown while living next door to his godmother Jamie Lee Curtis. The actor says their relationship has evolved since those early days.

“It's all about growing together and listening and being open. It's really not much different from any relationship when it works,” Gyllenhaal says. The actor points to The Secret Society of Aunts and Uncles, in which a rigid, rule-following uncle begins to slowly (thanks to some magical interference) appreciate who his artistic nephew really is.

Related: Jake Gyllenhaal Reveals Sweet Lessons He's Learned as an Uncle: ‘It’s About What [My Nieces] Want’ (Exclusive)

“The end of this book is: I see you. And if you listen and you try and pay attention — which we don't always do, all of us, perfectly all the time — but if we're trying and headed in that direction, then things last and grow. It's about being seen for who we are.”

While he and Cadieu have kept their relationship largely private, save for select public appearances such as at this summer’s French Open and on the red carpet for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut The Lost Daughter, Jake says the couple does what feels natural for them.

“It's no secret that I'm in a relationship and it's a wonderful relationship,” he says. “We are private, but I guess we are who we are. We're just living our lives. We always have. And I love that people are interested, but at the same time, it's like what's ours is ours.”

Related: Jake Gyllenhaal and Maggie Gyllenhaal: All About Their Brother-Sister Relationship

Earlier this year, Curtis supported Gyllenhaal at his April premiere of The Covenant, recalling that as neighbors, their almost year-long pandemic experience was filled with “singing, acting, [and] sourdough.”

Asked what advice she gave her godson when he was younger, Curtis recalled, "I sort of looked at him and said, 'I've done this for a long time. You're just starting. There may be things your parents don't have the experience, strength and hope that I do. Please use that if you need to.' "

Today, Gyllenhaal tells PEOPLE he was “so psyched” to see Curtis, 64, win an Oscar for Everything Everywhere All at Once earlier this year. "I've watched Jamie slowly start to be seen by people as I've always seen her, which is truly an icon," he says.

“I've always deeply admired her,” he continues, calling her a true artist. "In private, she's been open about her struggles and the things she goes through. She's just a wonderful example of how your career can evolve if you're lucky enough and if you devote yourself to something and you care about it from your 20s to your 30s, to your 40s, to your 60s — to your 80s, if you're true to yourself. She's a badass.”

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