Birth is a lot of things: messy, beautiful, intense, strenuous, eye-opening, and wholly unpredictable even with the best-laid plans. Sometimes you think you’re going to welcome your child at a hospital and the universe ends up allowing the major event to unfold at home in your bathroom, or in the car while your partner is doing their best to get you to the hospital in time. These unconventional births happen more often than you’d think, and these celebrity parents know all about welcoming children in wacky ways.
Sterling K. Brown and Seth Meyers are first-hand experts in wild birth scenarios, and they’ve lived to tell the jaw-dropping, rather hilarious tales. In fact, Meyers named an entire segment on his late-night show “Lobby Baby” after the untimely birth of his second child — any guesses as to how that story unfolded?
The This Is Us star and Saturday Night Live alum aren’t the only celebrity parents to have experienced unconventional births where their children are concerned. From Princess Anne’s daughter Zara Tindall to Kourtney Kardashian, many famous figures have shared stories of their kids’ quirky and unexpected arrivals. Olympic skier Bode Miller even successfully delivered his twin sons at home in 2019, an occurrence his wife Morgan deemed “pure magic.”
To learn more about these celebrities’ wild birth stories and many more, scroll on.
Amber Gilbert & Brantley Gilbert
Country music star Brantley Gilbert got the surprise of his life during an Oct. 2024 concert. The “Bottoms Up” singer left the stage in the middle of a show in Mississippi to help his wife welcome their third baby, Abram Howell, on the tour bus.
“So last night might have been the craziest night of my life,” Gilbert wrote over the birth announcement on Instagram. “Watching such an amazing woman do such an amazing thing is something I’ll never forget.”
In the video, viewers see Gilbert leave the stage, get escorted to the back, and then clips of his wriggly newborn. There’s also footage of him calling his mom. She asked him how he was, to which he responded, “Not as good as you are about to be. You got a new grandbaby.”
“I got a new grandbaby? I do?” she asked excitedly.
Gilbert then finished the concert, telling the crowd, “We got a baby.”
“Thank you to our road family for rallying around us, Brittany Thornton for helping us bring this little dude into the world, Tupelo, Mississippi for showing us mad love and support, and most of all… Amber Gilbert, for letting me love you and showing me EXACTLY how incredibly strong a woman can be. I love you,” the musician concluded.
Ryan Michelle Bathe & Sterling K. Brown
Bathrooms are a popular surprise delivery spot, and that’s exactly where Sterling K. Brown delivered his son when his wife, Ryan Michelle Bathe, went into labor with their first child.
During a 2016 appearance on Live with Kelly, the This Is Us star funnily recalled the home birth. “She comes crawling out of the bathroom after a while and she’s like ‘I think I’m crowning,'” Brown began the story. “I’m asleep kinda, I’m like, ‘Sweetheart, you can’t be crowning. It’s your first baby. Just try to relax.’ I’m mansplaining what’s happening to her body,” he joked.
The Black Panther actor continued, “She’s like, ‘This joker knows nothing.’ She dials 911 and is trying to get the paramedics, and I’m on the phone with the midwife. … Basically, she’s on all fours, I look down, the baby’s head is out,” Brown recalled.
“The midwife’s like, ‘That’s fantastic, just wait for Mommy to push again. Catch the baby so you can put him on Mommy’s chest and they can start bonding,’” he relayed, adding, “And sure enough, my wife pushed a second time, his body just wriggled out. I had a hand on the back of his head and on his bum. He cried immediately, so I didn’t have to rub him to make sure that he was breathing. … And within minutes, he was bobbing around, looking for the breast,” the Army Wives alum concluded.
Mariah Carey & Nick Cannon
Mariah Carey is a woman who knows exactly what she wants, and for the birth of her twin son and daughter, she wanted the sound of her live music and an accompanying roar of applause to be the soundtrack of their arrival.
During an appearance on The Gayle King Show, the “We Belong Together” singer’s now ex-husband, Nick Cannon, shared, “My wife wanted to make sure that when the babies came out, that they came out not only to a Mariah Carey song, but a live performance from Mariah Carey — her Madison Square performance of ‘Fantasy’ — so they came out to a round of applause.” Icon behavior only from Ms. Carey!
Camila Alves McConaughey & Matthew McConaughey
Matthew McConaughey told the story of his son’s arrival in the most Matthew McConaughey way possible. During a 2008 interview with OK!, per HuffPost, he recalled, “We found a great rhythm. Contractions started kicking in. I sat there with [my wife Camila], right between her legs.”
The How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days star continued, “We got tribal on it, we danced to it! I was DJ-ing this Brazilian music. We were jamming!” He revealed he kept a diary detailing their first child’s birth, sharing, “I have it all chronicled. Becoming a dad is something I’ve dreamed of doing since I was 10. Becoming a father felt very, very natural.”
Continuing the story, he said, “[Camila] was sweating. No painkiller, let’s go. She just clicked into that gear that only a woman has at a time like this. … This is where I learned — and no one tells you this — but having a baby is a bloody, pukey, sweaty, primeval thing! And I mean that as a beautiful thing. It is wild,” McConaughey gushed.
Although the couple waited to find out the gender until the birth, the Interstellar actor said neither he nor Camila were surprised to welcome a baby boy. “I said, ‘Come here, little man.’ I saw the pecker and screamed that we’d been right all along about him being a boy. Then I brought him over to her,” McConaughey concluded.
Troian Bellisario & Patrick Adams
Troian Bellisario was on her way to the hospital to deliver her second child when she realized she was not going to make it to the hospital before the baby arrived.
During a June 2021 episode of actress Katie Lowes’ podcast, Katie’s Crib, the Pretty Little Liars alum and her Suits star husband, Patrick Adams, shared their recollection of the chaotic experience. Bellisario recalled feeling like she was getting to the pushing point while they were still en route to the hospital, saying, “I’m starting to have to push my seatbelt away from me. I’m in a lot of pain, but I’m also like, ‘I can’t be in this position anymore.'”
Adams jumped in to share his perspective on the whirlwind birth, explaining, “[Immediately after entering the parking lot,] I whip around, and by the time I turn my head around, Troian is already [on her] hands and knees … and we’ve gone nuclear.” He continued, “[Troian’s] butt is at my head level, so I just go and pull down her pants and [the baby’s] head is right there. There was no room for panic. You just need to deal with this situation.”
Scary as the delivery was for the couple, Bellisario said she knew everything was fine once she heard their daughter cry. “I’m like, ‘She’s alive, she’s OK. She’s breathing,” she said.
Kasie Hunt
CNN anchor Kasie Hunt was on the books for a C-section to welcome her daughter, but the baby had other plans! The day before her scheduled surgery, Hunt gave birth to her second child at home in her bathroom in under 20 minutes.
“Grey was born at home, early Wednesday morning, after 13 minutes of sudden labor — before there was even time to call the paramedics,” the news anchor and her husband, Matthew Mario Rivera told People. “Dad sprang into action and delivered baby Grey on the bathroom floor. … It’s a day we’ll never forget!”
Zara & Mike Tindall
Like Kasie Hunt, Princess Anne’s daughter Zara Tindall gave birth at home in her bathroom. Zara’s husband Mike Tindall shared the news of the arrival of their third child on his The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast, saying once they realized their son was going to enter the world before they could make it to the hospital, “It was run into the gym, get a mat, get into the bathroom, get a mat on the floor, towels down, ‘brace-brace-brace.'”
Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds
Sometimes it’s hard to discern jokes from facts with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds — they love trolling each other online, much to our amusement — and the alleged birth of one of their daughters is one of those moments.
Digging for clues about what happens to his wife’s character Emily Nelson in A Simple Favor, the Deadpool star tweeted, “You can tell me. We’re married. You once drove me to the hospital when you were giving birth. So..what the f— happened to Emily?”
Bode & Morgan Miller
With the help of his mother, Bode Miller successfully aided his wife Morgan in delivering their twin sons at home in 2019. The couple shared the wild story of the unexpected birth during an appearance on the Today show, with the Olympic skier revealing, “The birth story was actually one of the more crazy things that I’ve ever experienced… none of the midwives actually made it on time.
He continued, “They started coming over, and by the time they got there, me and my mom were both holding the babies.” Explaining that his mom used to be a midwife, Bode shared, “She hadn’t delivered babies in 20-plus years, and she never delivered twins. We’re both pretty relaxed and pretty casual, but we were certainly not qualified to be doing an unassisted home delivery of twins.”
Despite the odds, the twins made a healthy entrance into the world after a quick birth. Morgan recalled, “It was just so amazing to have it go as spontaneously but as well as it did. It was pure magic.”
Teyana Taylor & Iman Shumpert
Teyana Taylor accidentally welcomed not one, but two of her and her NBA star husband Iman Shumpert’s kids at home in their bathroom. Five years after the birth of their first daughter, Taylor announced the arrival of their second on Instagram, joking, “Now when we buy homes, we always find a bathroom with great energy.”
The singer added, “But not in a million years would you be able to tell me we’d deliver both of our daughters in a bathroom without the assistance of a hospital!”
Kourtney Kardashian
Kourtney Kardashian famously pulled her eldest son out of her body while giving birth to him, and she did the same with her daughter Penelope. The Poosh founder explained to Us Weekly, per Today, “She was coming out, and I was thinking, ‘I should pull her.’ With Mason, I had no idea I was going to do that. This time, I thought, ‘This is what I’m supposed to do.'”
Seth Meyers & Alexi Ashe
In April 2018, Seth Meyers revealed he and his wife, Alexi Ashe, welcomed their second child in the lobby of their New York City apartment building. He recalled the events during an episode of his Late Night show, sharing, “I called 911 and over the course of a minute conversation, I said, ‘We’re about to have a baby — we’re having a baby — we had a baby.'”
Hilarie Burton Morgan & Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Jeffrey Dean Morgan revealed he delivered both of his and Hilarie Burton Morgan’s two kids during an April 2018 interview with People. The Walking Dead star shared, “We didn’t use doctors, we used a midwife, so I delivered both of my kids.”
He recalled the 2010 birth of their son, explaining, “The first time I didn’t know, I was shocked that I was part of it. I thought I was going to hold the leg, tell her to hopefully breathe and I wasn’t ready when I took my position.”
Of the arrival of their daughter in 2018, Morgan shared, “This time I was a little bit more prepared and got in and got her out immediately. As soon as her head breached I reached in there, grabbed her by the cheeks and got her out. Hilarie was over it, so it was awesome. I got to deliver both my kids, for real, it was cool.”
Erika Christensen & Cole Maness
Parenthood alum Erika Christensen was shocked at how quickly her and cyclist husband Cole Maness’ daughter arrived — so quickly that the doctor didn’t make it to their home in time for the birth.
The actress wrote on Instagram, “It happened! It happened this morning. And it will go down in family history because babygirl’s own, incredible Dad delivered her all by himself.” She added, “My fault, as I didnt know she would come so quickly and didn’t call the doc until far too late. He came straight over and arrived about one minute after she joined us in the world. … So epic!”
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