The stork was certainly busy in 2017. ELISA CHIA rounds up some of the celebrities and influencers who gave birth last year.
Joanne Peh & Qi Yuwu
First, a girl; now, a boy! The couple announced the birth of their son on April 21 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital. He arrived after a 16-hour labour, during which Joanne chose not to use any pain relief again.
Well-meaning friends have been assuring the couple that the second delivery would be much smoother, but this was not the case for the 34-year-old who was thoroughly exhausted.
“Experienced mothers have been telling us that giving birth to the second child will easier. But it isn’t true,” Yuwu, 41, said in an interview. “After 16 hours in labour, Joanne told me that it was just as painful and as long as the first child. We felt a little cheated.”
Fiercely protective of their children’s privacy, they have not shared their son’s name. Even the firstborn, now two years old, is only known as Baby Qi.
Edison Chen
The former bad boy is a happy, doting dad now. His new family photo made the rounds in July. In it, the Canadian-born singer and actor, 37, was holding a baby girl, flanked by his partner, Chinese-born model Qin Shupei, 28, his parents and his two older sisters. Behind them, party decorations spelled “Alaia's 100”.
The picture was uploaded by Edison’s friend with the message “100 days congrats”, and a netizen immediately did the math, concluding that the singer’s daughter was likely born on April 20.
Ella Chen
www.instagram.com/him_ella0618
The Taiwanese singer, 36, and her husband, Malaysian businessman Alvin Lai, 40, welcomed a boy on April 12. Ella had a natural birth without an epidural, after trying but failing to have a water birth.
“My cervix was too thick, and my birth canal wasn't wide enough, as its width didn't even measure the length of a hand, so I had a natural birth instead. I didn’t get an epidural, so it was very, very, very painful.
But the midwife told me that I must continue to push,” she shared on social media. But labour pains have not stopped her from planning for more kids. By her own confession, Ella said that she will be a funloving and crazy mum, and that she has plans for more children in the future.
Janet Hsieh & George Young
www.instagram.com/instageorgey
The Taiwanese host and her American-born hubby George Young, both 37, shared the good news on Facebook, with Janet announcing: “It’s a boy!”
George, who hosted Channel 5’s game show Million Dollar Money Drop in 2011, wrote: “I have a son. Janet Hsieh is Wonder Woman. I’ll figure out the rest later.”
It was not an easy birth, with the overdue baby’s head being big for a natural delivery. Janet was said to be in labour for 38 hours.
They have been actively documenting the pregnancy and baby Egan on their social-media accounts.
Jay Chou
The Taiwan Mandopop superstar, 38, confirmed the birth of his second child, Romeo, in a post on his Facebook page on June 21. In the post, he shared a photo of his 24-year-old wife, actress Hannah Quinlivan, kissing their sleeping newborn as well as their twoyear-old daughter, Hathaway, in bed.
The couple are protective of their children’s privacy and share only their side and back views on social media. But Jay’s friend, TV host Matilda Tao, accidentally leaked his new baby’s photo when she posted on Facebook a picture of a sticky rice gift box he sent her for the celebration of his second child’s birth.
Bong Qiuqiu
The popular blogger, whose real name is Ang Chiew Ting, welcomed her second daughter Amelia on May 18 at Thomson Medical Centre.
Her pregnancy had been a stressful one, as she was in a lawsuit with a social-media advertising network. To raise funds for her legal fees, the 30-year-old turned to crowdfunding.
What she got instead was abuse, with one person even asking her to miscarry or abort her unborn baby.
Nonetheless, Qiuqiu’s “star power” is still going strong. She still commands 302,000 Instagram followers, while her firstborn, two-year-old Meredith, has 79,400 followers. Even little Amelia has 13,000 followers.
Beyonce & Jay-Z
The pop diva, 35, and rap mogul, 48, became parents to a twin boy and girl, Sir and Rumi, in June. It was Beyonce’s father who confirmed the birth of her babies on social media.
“They’re here!” he wrote in a tweet that included a digital birthday card that read: “Happy Birthday to the twins! Love, Grandad.” The couple also have a five-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy.
Serena Williams
www.instagram.com/serenawilliams
The tennis superstar had been pregnant when she won the Australian Open in January last year – but no one knew. The 36-year-old broke the news by accident when she posted a photo of herself on Snapchat in April with the caption, “20 weeks”. She quickly deleted it, but it had already gone viral.
She gave birth to Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr on Sept 1 and married her fiance, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, 34, on Nov 16. Serena plans to return to the tennis circuit this year.
Kim Lim
It was kept hush-hush – until news of football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival in Singapore leaked out. He had flown in to visit billionaire Peter Lim’s daughter, who was believed to have given birth on July 18 at Thomson Medical Centre.
The family made the headlines again when they threw a star-filled, lavish 99th-day celebration party for baby Kyden at the Ritz-Carlton hotel. Party highlights included a merry-go-round, several tiered birthday cakes, dessert tables laden with goodies and a ceiling full of helium balloons.
Now, all eyes are on the wedding. The 25-year-old will tie the knot with the baby’s father, identifed only as Kho Bk from his social-media account, on March 23, 2018
Jamie Yeo
The Gold 905 DJ and television host gave birth to her second child, Luke, on Aug 29 at Singapore General Hospital. He arrived “a little early at 35 weeks, but healthy and at a respectable 2.35kg”, the 40-year-old shared in an Instagram post.
Luke is her first child with her 38-year-old husband, whom she refers to as Rupert. Jamie announced that she had gotten married to the British expat and was five months pregnant, only in June. It had been a difficult pregnancy for Jamie, who had been on bed rest in hospital since she was 32-weeks pregnant.
Jamie has a seven-year-old daughter, Alysia, from her second marriage to British expat Thorsten Nolte. Alysia was also born premature, arriving 10 weeks early and weighing just 1.2kg.
Shaun Chen
www.instagram.com/shaunchenhongyu
Little Neia was born to the 39-year-old actor and his wife, Celine, on July 25 in Alor Setar, Malaysia. The couple also have a two-year-old daughter, Nellie.
Shaun threw a 100th-day party for the new baby in Singapore. Many stars were spotted at the celebration, including Christopher Lee, Felicia Chin and Andie Chen.
Tay Kewei & Alfred Sim
The singers documented the entire process of childbirth, from the time Kewei, 34, felt contractions to the moment their son entered the world on Sept 27 at Parkway East Hospital. The video can be found on Season 2 of their online reality series Married, And Then?.
“I was very emotional when the gynae first announced the arrival of my little one, and I was about to tear till I saw his wrinkled little face, pale and purplish skin, which distracted me a little,” Alfred, 36, quipped in an interview.
The fun-loving couple celebrated the first month of their first child, nicknamed Shen Mo, with a gangster-themed party.
“We thought about it before, what can we do that is not ‘baby’? I’ve seen too many baby-related themes,” Kewei said. (Turn to page 66 for our interview with Kewei.)
Who’s expecting a baby in 2018
• The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (third child)
• Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps and his wife, Nicole (second child)
• South Korean actress Jun Ji-Hyun (second child)
• Local fashion entrepreneur and influencer Velda Tan (first child)
• Kim Kardashian and Kayne West (third child, via surrogate)
• Late-night talk show host James Cordon and his wife, Julia (third child)
• Actress and entrepreneur Jessica Alba and her husband, Cash Warren (third child)
• Singer Adam Levine and his wife, Behati Prinsloo (second child)
• Fashion entreprenuer and influencer Jessica Tham (first child)
ADDITIONAL REPORTING STEPHANIE YEO PHOTOS RESPECTIVE SOCIAL-MEDIA ACCOUNTS
