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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Chelsea Ritschel

Chrissy Teigen and John Legend welcome fourth child via surrogate: ‘Our new love’

Getty Images for Vanity Fair

Chrissy Teigen and John Legend have announced the arrival of their fourth child, a baby boy born via surrogate.

On Wednesday, the cookbook author, 37, and the “All of Me” singer, 44, shared the news that their family had expanded once more on Instagram, where they revealed they’d welcomed a son named Wren Alexander Stephens on 19 June.

On Teigen’s Instagram, she reflected on the couple’s surrogacy journey in a lengthy post, in which she revealed that she’s wanted four children for “as long as [she] can remember”.

In the emotional post, Teigen then reflected on the loss of her and Legend’s unborn child, Jack, in 2020, with the model revealing that she didn’t think she’d be able to “carry any more babies on my own”.

According to Teigen, who gave birth to her and Legend’s third child, a daughter named Esti, in January 2023, she and the singer reached out to a surrogacy agency in 2021 about the possibility of “having two tandem surrogates, each to bring us a healthy baby boy or girl”.

However, Teigen revealed that, early on in the surrogacy journey, she also decided that she wanted to try getting pregnant “just one more time”.

“If it doesn’t work, we will be okay. We’ve already seen the worst,” she wrote. “I promised I would be okay no matter what happened.”

According to the Cravings author, at that point, she and Legend started undergoing IVF, which she noted was the same process that allowed the couple to welcome their daughter Luna, seven, and son Miles, four.

“We made new embryos. We did my transfer, and were so happy to learn it worked - we were pregnant with our little girl, Esti,” Teigen wrote, adding that “around this same time,” the couple also met the “most incredible, loving, compassionate surrogate we could ever imagine”.

In the candid post, Teigen revealed that the first embryo transfer to their surrogate Alexandra “didn’t survive,” before noting how “hard” their surrogate fought to prepare for a second transfer.

According to Teigen, she and Legend didn’t want to rush the process, and so they were “patient” as she enjoyed the first trimester of her pregnancy “with, of course, a little bit of fear that isn’t any different from any other expecting couple”.

Teigen said she and Legend learned that their surrogate was pregnant with a boy as they “crept toward the safe zone” of her own pregnancy, with the celebrity chef writing that she and Alexandra celebrated together with their “growing bellies, our families blending into one for the past year”.

In the post, Teigen then revealed that she’d gotten to witness as the “most beautiful woman, my friend, our surrogate,” gave birth “just minutes before midnight” on 19 June.

Teigen concluded the lengthy post expressing her gratitude to her surrogate for the “incredible gift” before sharing a photo of the surrogate as well as one of the couple holding their newborn child in the hospital. The final photo showed a close-up shot of the couple’s baby boy.

“Our hearts, and our home, are officially full. And to our Jack, we know both their angel kisses are from you,” Teigen wrote.

Legend also shared the news of the baby’s arrival on his Instagram, where he posted a photo of himself surrounded by his and Teigen’s four children, as well as the photo of the couple cradling their newborn.

“Wren Alexander Stephens, our new love,” Legend captioned the album.

The news that Teigen and Legend have expanded their family again has been met with an outpouring of supportive and congratulatory messages.

“Four cheers for Wren Alexander!” Ellen DeGeneres commented under Teigen’s Instagram post, while Mandy Moore wrote: “Congrats to your incredible family!”

Andy Cohen also weighed in on the news, writing: “CHRISSY!!!” along with multiple red heart emojis.

Teigen’s emotional post also prompted a response from the couple’s surrogate, who thanked them for “choosing” her and for making the “whole experience so wonderful”.

“Thank you for choosing me. For making this whole experience so wonderful. For loving me and my family wholeheartedly,” she wrote, according to a screenshot captured by People. “It was truly an honour bringing perfect Wren into the world with you right by my side.”

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