Lea Michele is officially a mom. Refinery29 received confirmation that Michele and her husband, business owner Zandy Reich, welcomed their first son on Thursday, and they chose a meaningful baby name — Ever Leo.
“Everyone’s happy and healthy, and they’re extremely grateful,” a source told People, adding the Ever has been “an easy baby so far.”
Michele, who has a Jewish father and an Italian-Catholic mother, incorporated several religious traditions into her wedding with Reich, who is also Jewish. “I’m Italian and my fiancé is Jewish, so I think it’s going to be about blending our cultures and making sure that we do things that really honor both of our heritages,” she told Best Products when she first got engaged in 2018. Just as Michele and Reich did with their wedding, it looks like they’re honoring both of their heritages with Ever’s name: according to several baby name websites, Ever is a Hebrew name and most often considered a variant of Eber, which means “to cross over” or “beyond.” Meanwhile, the name Leo is Italian.
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Michele confirmed her pregnancy back in May with a photo on Instagram. “So grateful,” she wrote at the time. Since then, she’s shared several other snapshots chronicling her pregnancy journey, including a sweet Mother’s Day post and a bikini photo.
Michele and Reich, who first met at a mutual friend’s wedding, got married in 2019. Shortly after, Michele opened up to Health about her desire to become a parent. “I hope to be a mom of, like, 10 kids — if it’s physically possible to pop that many out! Ha!” she said. “I’m so excited about the thought of being a mom.”
Michele and Reich haven’t shared any photos of Ever yet, but at the latest, we can safely expect a cute photo of his Halloween costume in two months. Michele told Ryan Seacrest last October that she “wasn’t into” Halloween, but that she was already expecting her feelings on the holiday to change once she had kids. “Oh, then they’re going to be like the cutest thing ever. I feel like sushi is number one on the list — I want my kids to dress up as, like, a lion or a taco — everything cute and adorable, I want that for sure.”