Zoe Saldana and her husband Marco Perego have three sons, twins Cy and Bowie, 11, and Zen, nine. Zoe has talked about some of the more relatable obstacles of parenting, like how her boys constantly fight and having a code word for when she and Marco want to get it on. As the mother of two boys ages 11 and eight, I can relate to a lot of her struggles.
Zoe was honored at the 2026 Time 100 Gala as one of their 100 Most Influential People of 2026. On the red carpet, a reporter from Page Six asked her for her thoughts on the biggest challenge of raising boys now. Zoe gave a really thoughtful answer about her desire to raise emotionally healthy young men despite all of the outside noise from the manosphere.
Zoe Saldaña says parenting sons in a world filled with misogyny is tough.
“There’s so much noise out there, and that noise is very pervasive and very persuasive,” the “Avatar” actress, who is mom to three young boys, told Page Six exclusively at the 2026 Time 100 Gala Thursday.
Saldaña, who shares 11-year-old twins Cy and Bowie as well as Zen, 9, with artist Marco Perego, confessed that it’s challenging to shield her boys “away from that noise and keep their little hearts gentle and soft” while also “keep[ing] their minds resilient.”
Saldaña noted that she also has the hurdle of “raising men of color and sons of immigrants and American men.”
The “Guardians of the Galaxy” actress is of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent, while Perego was born in Italy.
Saldaña added that she takes “great pride” in her sons’ heritage but, at the end of the day, just wants them to “be absolute human beings.”
“And I do believe that men are delicate flowers,” she continued. “That can be really resilient, but they’re so gentle. So I’m literally just preserving that for them.”
I love how Zoe handled this question, including the nuanced way she acknowledged that she’s raising children of color who are also sons of immigrants. That’s always been a difficult avenue to negotiate, but it feels like it’s so much worse right now. While I can’t relate to that particular aspect, I also constantly worry about raising my boys in today’s society. Zoe’s right about just how “pervasive and persuasive” the manosphere and its talking points are. It teaches men the complete wrong ways to deal with their emotions. Men really are “delicate flowers,” which makes them all the more susceptible to toxic masculinity crap. We need more tonic masculinity and for boys/men to be taught that women prefer men like Nick Offerman or Gov. Tim Walz over Joe Rogan and Andrew Tate.
Mr. Rosie and I keep an open line of communication with our boys and talk to them about a lot of things. If we hear them repeat something problematic, we set them straight. We also limit YouTube time and won’t let them have cell phones, much to their neverending protests about how these rules put them at a social disadvantage. That said, they can still access certain things through their school-issued laptops and will always hear all sorts of crap from classmates. We’re just trying to give them the tools so that when they encounter that sort of “noise” on their own, they can see through the bullsh-t.
Photos credit: Jennifer Graylock-Graylock.com/Avalon, Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon, LCY/Avalon
Agree. I teach mostly young men and they feel so strongly and deeply but have nowhere to take their fears and insecurities without being judged for being weak and encouraged to radicalise. I think so may teenage boys just need a good listener in their life who validates their feelings and makes them feel valued for their kindness, creativity and general weirdness. But there is a lot of money in making men feel terrible.