US star Sofia Richie has announced she is expecting her first child with husband Elliot Grainge.
The former model, who is the daughter of singing superstar Lionel Richie, said she “can’t wait for this next chapter of life” after revealing she will be welcoming a baby daughter in the spring with her British music executive husband.
“I found out very, very early”, Richie Grainge told British Vogue magazine.
“I was about four weeks pregnant. I was on a trip to Milan for fashion week, and I was going to the Prada show.
“I was doing a really quick 24-hour turnaround, and I felt terrible but didn’t think much of it. I thought it was jet lag.”
Richie, who got married in a lavish French ceremony last April, said she took a pregnancy test when she landed back in Los Angeles ahead of an Ed Sheeran concert – before sending her husband out to buy more tests when it came back faintly positive.
She said: “He was so excited. We spoke the whole way on the phone. And when he came home, he’s such a sweet guy he always wants to protect my emotions and expectations, so he kind of sat me down and said, ‘If these are negative, don’t be upset. Our moment will come’.
“When we turned over all three tests at the same time they were all positive. He was so excited, and we both cried.
“It was crazy and overwhelming and so hard not to scream it from the rooftops. But knowing I was so early, I was so protective – even with my friends.”
The model said the couple shared the news with their parents when she hit the eight-week mark but kept the news quiet publicly for months.
“Pregnancy is really scary and you want to protect that space”, she said.
“There was an anxiety for me about hitting certain milestones (when it came to the pregnancy), and once I passed that 21-week mark, I felt like I was in the safe zone.
“Now that I’m there, I feel like I’ve made it over the major hurdles and I feel safe and comfortable announcing it, and I can now have those open conversations and be honest with the people watching my videos, that’s more where it stemmed from instead of me being like ‘Oh, I want to make this a grand announcement’.”
She said the couple were surprised when they found out they are expecting a baby girl, believing strongly it was going to be a boy.
The 25-year-old also said she looks forward to raising a “smart, kind person” and being a role model for her daughter.
