Zoe Saldaña's 3 Kids: Everything She's Said About Parenting

Zoe Saldaña and husband Marco Perego share three sons: Cy, Bowie and Zen

She may have a high-profile career, appearing in movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and Avatar, but Zoe Saldaña says there's nothing like being with the "best people" in her life: husband Marco Perego, and their three sons, Cy, Bowie and Zen.

Saldaña and Perego have done their best to keep their children out of the spotlight.

"Marco and I have a great deal of respect for the privacy of our kids," she told PEOPLE in 2017. "We have to choose for them and part of that is giving them the anonymity that they need."

Still, Saldaña's kids know about her Hollywood fame.

"I see how [Zen] is trying to place me in his mind like, 'OK, you're Mama, but you're also Gamora,' " she said of her youngest during an interview for InStyle. "The fact that that gives me street cred with my kids, it's fun, it's great."

However, parenting isn't all "street cred" and action movies. Saldaña has been open about the challenges of parenting three boys and how having kids with Perego strengthened their marriage.

"When we had our boys, I looked at my husband and I realized: I was meant for you, and you were meant for me," she told PEOPLE. "I don't want to be separate. I want my church. I want to live inside the religion of our own little family."

The Perego-Saldaña family have traveled the world together. In 2021, they spent four months in Perego's home country of Italy. Two years later, the family spent several months living in Paris.

In October 2023, Saldaña told PEOPLE that she and Perego are teaching their boys to "honor women" and "celebrate their feminine self."

The actress added: "We're very hard on our boys the same way we're hard on women. We definitely understood the assignments and accepted it knowing that we were raising boys during a time when women's movements are so important."

Here's everything Zoe Saldaña has said about parenting her three sons with husband Marco Perego.

Cy Aridio and Bowie Ezio, 9

Identical twins Cy Aridio and Bowie Ezio Perego-Saldaña were born on Nov. 27, 2014, in Los Angeles. The twins were born early via emergency C-section. Saldaña did not announce her pregnancy prior to their birth.

After welcoming her kids, the new mom opened up about her health difficulties related to pregnancy.

"Your body changes dramatically, inside and out," the actress shared in 2015. "You grow in places you never knew you could, and you are tired beyond belief. In some cases more than others, your body experiences a kind of trauma through childbirth that is difficult to explain unless you've had that experience. My case was like that, everything from my thyroid to my platelets crashed. Thank God, we are all doing great now, but my body was really bent out of shape after the boys were born."

From birth, the two boys have been inseparable and, as Saldaña says, constantly in sync. "They do everything together!" she said in 2017. "They sleep at the same time, they eat at the same time, they poop at the same time."

Saldaña has said being a mother to boys has been a humbling and educational experience.

"I couldn't be more in awe of who they are, their natures as boys," she told PEOPLE. "We put so much pressure on them. Through our nurture, we tamper so much. So I've been leaning in on the books, and talking to parents of boys, getting any advice from fathers and mothers that we can grab. My husband and I are sponges, because we are determined to raise happy, stress-free men."

One rule that helps her and Perego set boundaries? No play dates.

"Our kids are free," she explains of why she prefers to host Cy and Bowie's friends at their house rather than let her boys go to their play mate's homes. "We're rambunctious. We're a loud family, and we don't stop from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. And literally, we just don't have any play dates. You can always come to our house, our doors are open. But we don't ever want them to be exposed to negligence, or to someone getting angry with them for just being boys."

In addition to making sure their home has an open-door policy, Saldaña and Perego designed their space specifically with their kids in mind. The actress told Architectural Digest that she wanted their home to not only be "beautiful and affordable and super artistic," but also "child-safe."

"I have three boys and they're going to be jumping, ripping, and biting. I also wanted it to be durable," she explained.

Zen Anton Hilario, 7

Zen Anton Hilario Perego-Saldaña was born on Dec. 12, 2016, in L.A. Like his older brothers, Zen arrived quietly, and he reportedly has an unusual birth story — but his parents are waiting to share it.

"This is something we're being very meticulous about because of the process of how we completed our family," Saldaña told PEOPLE in 2017. "When we're there, when the time comes and our third baby is a little older, and all the forces that helped us have him with us are comfortable, then we will share it because we know it would be very positive and inspiring to many families that are looking to complete themselves and are not able to do it in the conventional way."

Being the little brother of identical twins isn't always easy for Zen, but he holds his own, despite being a year and a half younger than Cy and Bowie. "They're identical twins and they're really attached at the hip and their connection is really majestic," Saldaña said. "So it takes a lot of conscious action to not forget about Zen — but Zen never lets them forget either. He's really persistent."

The couple are raising their boys to speak Italian, Spanish and English — Perego is from Italy and Saldaña is of Dominican and Puerto Rican heritage.

"I think they're doing much better than we are," Saldaña told PEOPLE of her sons. "They understand all three languages, and they also choose who they speak the languages with. So with their Italian grandparents they will speak in Italian, with their [Spanish-speaking] grandparents they speak in Spanish, and with Mama and Papa they will speak back in English — but they understand in any language we speak to them."

One thing both parents are emphasizing to their sons is that fathers and mothers can be strong role models.

"When you look at parenting, the whole thing about matriarchy and patriarchy, and Daddy's little girl and Mama's boys — my husband and I find that completely ludicrous and absolutely unhealthy for the upbringing of a child," the actress said. "You're giving them a very distorted and limited view on what a female role is supposed to be in a family and what a male role is supposed to be."

On Feb. 2, 2023, Saldaña shared adorable photos on her Instagram Story of her and Zen during "a day at work."

In one photo, the Avatar actress kissed her little boy on the cheek. "Thank you for keeping me company today❤️," she wrote over the snap.

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