ANNA FARIS AND HER SON’S FAITH: WHEN A MOTHER CHOOSES DIALOGUE OVER IMPOSITION

Anna Faris has recently drawn attention not because of a new film, but because of a deeply personal story within her family. During a conversation on Chelsea Handler’s Dear Chelsea podcast, the actress opened up about Jack, her 14-year-old son with ex-husband Chris Pratt, and the way they navigate differences over religion and social issues. Faris did not grow up in a strongly religious household, while Jack has become increasingly interested in Christianity and has even asked his mother to accept Jesus Christ.

“I didn’t grow up with religion. [Jack] is religious. He’s asked me to accept Jesus Christ [as my savior],” Faris said. The situation could easily have turned into a confrontation within the family, but the actress said she has chosen not to dismiss her son’s beliefs. “I told him I would do anything for him, including this, but it’s going to take a whole lot of long conversations.” For Faris, respecting Jack’s faith does not mean she has to stop asking questions.

That approach became particularly clear when the mother and son discussed Jack’s pro-life views. Faris recalled asking him, “Do you think it’s a luxury that you get to be pro-life? Do you think that’s kind of a luxury?” Jack responded, “Maybe.” Faris’s question was not necessarily intended to give him an answer, but rather to encourage him to consider how his own circumstances might influence his moral position. Her approach suggests that she wants Jack to understand that a belief can be deeply held while still being subjected to self-examination.

Faris is also not afraid to bring influential religious figures into their conversations. She recalled asking him, “Or I’ll say, ‘What do you think of this mega pastor that’s kind of a grifter?’ And he’s like, ‘Oh, mega pastors are the worst.’ So it’s like, ‘Okay, he’s getting there.’” For the actress, this is not an attempt to make her son abandon religion, but rather a lesson in distinguishing faith from the people or institutions that claim to represent it. She appreciates that Jack can engage with difficult questions without treating disagreement with his mother as a personal confrontation.

Faris described her son as “solid as a tugboat emotionally” and said that he is not easily shaken. That emotional steadiness appears to allow the two to maintain conversations that might otherwise become difficult, without turning differences of opinion into emotional distance. Faris has often spoken about Jack with affection and pride, while both she and Pratt have tried to keep him away from excessive public attention. In recent years, Jack has occasionally appeared publicly with his mother and stepfather, showing that the family continues to share moments together despite his parents having moved on to separate marriages.

Jack’s religious outlook is also connected to a particularly significant event in his family history. He was born in 2012, around nine weeks premature, and spent time receiving intensive medical care after birth. Those uncertain early days had a profound effect on Chris Pratt, who later said the experience deepened his Christian faith. In a 2025 essay, Pratt recalled praying while Jack was in the neonatal intensive care unit and wrote: “I promised that if Jack survived, I would devote my life to sharing God’s message. This time I meant it.”

From that point onward, religion became a prominent part of Pratt’s public identity. The actor has frequently spoken about Christianity and has faced criticism over his religious beliefs. In 2023, when asked whether he felt attacked because of his faith, Pratt referenced the Bible and said: “That’s the way it is, nothing new, 2,000 years ago they hated him [Jesus], too.” Pratt’s religious views have remained a subject of public discussion, but the differences between him and Faris have apparently not prevented them from co-parenting Jack.

Faris and Pratt met while working together on Take Me Home Tonight and married in 2009. Their marriage lasted eight years before they announced their separation in 2017 and finalized their divorce in 2018. At the time, Pratt emphasized that the two still had affection and respect for one another and wanted to protect their son’s privacy. The years that followed suggest that they developed a relatively independent approach to co-parenting, allowing Jack to maintain relationships with both parents.

After separating from Pratt, Faris continued with her own life and married cinematographer Michael Barrett in 2021. The two met while working on Overboard, eventually began dating and kept their relationship relatively private for some time. Faris later confirmed that they had married in a private ceremony in Washington state. Barrett also has children from a previous relationship, meaning Faris entered a blended family of her own. She has acknowledged that building a relationship with a spouse’s children can come with its own challenges.

Pratt, meanwhile, also remarried, tying the knot with Katherine Schwarzenegger in 2019. The couple have three children together. Jack has therefore grown up within an extended family structure in which both of his parents have new partners and younger half-siblings. Faris has indicated that she and Pratt continue to coordinate their parenting while their respective families develop along separate paths.

Faris has also become more open about changes in her own life. During a recent conversation, the actress discussed stepping away from alcohol and recognizing a connection between drinking, feeling depressed and engaging in self-sabotaging behavior. She said the change has given her a different perspective on both her career and her personal life. The admission suggests that Faris is entering a different chapter from the one associated with her earlier image as one of Hollywood’s most recognizable comedy actresses.

Her career was built largely on a distinctive combination of humor, physical comedy and an intentionally awkward charm. After appearing in several smaller projects, Faris became widely known as Cindy Campbell in the Scary Movie franchise. The success of the series established her as one of the most recognizable female stars of early-2000s comedy. She went on to appear in The Hot Chick, Just Friends, The House Bunny and numerous other films, demonstrating that her talents extended beyond parody.

Faris also appeared in critically acclaimed films such as Lost in Translation and Brokeback Mountain, showing that she could move between commercial comedy and more serious projects. On television, she reached another major milestone with the sitcom Mom, in which she starred for eight seasons from 2013 to 2021. Beyond acting, Faris developed a second public identity through her podcast Anna Faris Is Unqualified and published her memoir Unqualified in 2017.

In recent years, Faris has gradually returned to film after spending more time focusing on family life. She appeared in Scary Movie 6, marking her return to the franchise that helped establish her name with a new generation of audiences. She also stars in Spa Weekend, a comedy about a group of friends whose supposedly relaxing getaway quickly descends into chaos. Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher and Michelle Buteau also appear in the project.

Returning to Scary Movie carries a particular significance for Faris. Cindy Campbell was one of the defining characters of her early career, when she repeatedly appeared in comedies built around parody, exaggeration and physical humor. Years later, she returns with considerably more life experience, while her personal circumstances have changed substantially. She is now a mother of a teenager, a wife in a new family and an actress attempting to balance professional ambitions with a private life that has evolved considerably since her Hollywood breakthrough.

Faris’s personal life has also attracted considerable media attention, particularly through her first two marriages. She married actor Ben Indra in 2004 and divorced him in 2008. Her relationship with Pratt subsequently became one of Hollywood’s better-known romances. Yet rather than turning their divorce into a public confrontation, Faris and Pratt largely shifted their attention toward co-parenting Jack. The way they handled their separation has since become an important part of their family story.

For Faris, raising Jack appears to be a process in which she continues to learn as much as he does. She does not deny their differences or attempt to turn every disagreement into a one-sided moral lesson. When Jack asked her to believe in Jesus, she said she was willing to listen and even consider it for his sake, while making clear that they would need “a whole lot of long conversations.” The sentiment reflects a broader philosophy: loving a child can also mean asking questions that force them to think more deeply.

The differences between Faris and Pratt do not necessarily have to become a source of conflict. Pratt has repeatedly spoken about the importance of Christianity in his life, while Faris has explained that she did not grow up with religion. Jack, meanwhile, is developing his own worldview as a teenager. Rather than requiring the adults around him to hold identical beliefs, the family appears to be accepting that a child can grow up surrounded by different perspectives and eventually develop his own understanding.

What seems to matter most to Faris is not whether Jack becomes someone who thinks exactly as she does, but whether he learns to think independently. When she asks whether being pro-life might be a “luxury,” or when she brings up wealthy religious figures whom she believes exploit faith, her objective appears to be encouraging him to examine where his beliefs come from. Jack may continue to hold the same views after those conversations, but Faris wants him to understand that faith should not be completely immune to questions.

At 49, Anna Faris is in a very different chapter of her life from the period when she became famous as Cindy Campbell. Her career is showing signs of renewed activity, her family has taken on a new structure, and Jack is growing into a teenager with increasingly independent opinions. Their conversations about religion therefore represent more than a disagreement between a mother and son. They reflect Faris’s changing understanding of parenthood as her child moves toward adulthood.

Perhaps the most revealing part of Faris’s recent comments is not whether she and Jack agree. It is the fact that she chooses to keep the conversation going even when they stand on opposite sides of an issue. Jack may continue to embrace Christianity, Faris may continue to question his assumptions, and Pratt may continue to practice his faith within his own household. After the major changes their family has experienced, they appear to have found a way to coexist in which disagreement does not necessarily mean emotional distance. For Faris, that may prove to be one of the most challenging roles she has ever taken on: not playing a character, but helping a child decide who he wants to become.