When Sofia Richie Grainge got married last April, it was the wedding heard round the world. There was the debut of her TikTok just days before she walked down the aisle, her final dress fitting at Chanel, and, of course, the main event: her wedding at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc. (Was it or was it not quiet luxury?) There, she and record executive Elliot Grainge said their vows in front of friends and family that included her father, Lionel Richie; sister Nicole Richie and her husband Joel Madden; as well as Benji Madden, Cameron Diaz, and Paris Hilton.
However, in the nine months since, the bride who undoubtedly launched more than a few private Pinterest boards has been busy. There’s been the David Yurman campaign, the Prada Beauty partnership, and more than a few magazine covers. But perhaps the biggest collaboration to date is the one she’s been keeping under wraps for months: Sofia Richie Grainge is expecting, and she’s over the moon about it.
“I found out very, very early,” Richie Grainge tells Vogue exclusively. “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.”
When she got back to Los Angeles, she was initially planning on going to the Ed Sheeran concert with her husband and friends the next day. “I kind of knew it was going to be a boozy night, and I was a few days late on my period, and I wanted to be generally safe, so I took a test,” she remembers. “Elliot was already used to me taking tests randomly.” The two had been casually trying ever since they got married in April. “So he didn’t really flinch when I said I was checking. I was taking one of those really crappy at-home tests, and there was the faintest of lines. I was so used to seeing negatives that I knew when something looked even kind of different.”
She promptly told Elliot to get in his car and go to CVS to pick up three more of the best pregnancy tests he could find. “He was so excited,” Richie Grainge recalls. “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.”
Sofia and Elliot only shared the news with their parents (and grandparents-to-be) until she hit about the eight-week mark. “We went to Elliot’s parents, who live about five minutes away from us, and I think I had a box—I want to say it was a Hermès box or some sort of box—and I told everyone that I had bought them a gift from Milan Fashion Week,” Richie Grainge remembers. “Everyone was like ‘Ooooh Hermes!’ But then they opened it and it had all three of the pregnancy tests [in it]. That’s how we told all of our parents. Watching their reaction go from like, ‘I’m about to get an expensive present’ to like ‘I’m about to get a grandchild’ was really sweet.”
When it came to keeping the news quiet, Richie Grainge felt resolute in her decision. “Pregnancy is really scary and you want to protect that space,” she explains. “I didn’t realize there are so many milestones you have to hit and so many tests you have to take. For me, it was really important to protect our mental health and our space as a couple.”
Richie Grainge—like a lot of expectant moms—has also realised how little she knew about the female body prior to her pregnancy. “I’ve learned more in the past six months than I have in my entire life,” she admits. “And also just like what the female body is capable of. Every week brings new things, whether it’s hormonal shifts or expansion—there’s just so much our bodies go through, and it’s so interesting to experience it all.”
According to Richie Grainge, her daughter—yes, Sofia Richie Grainge is having a baby girl!—is a Gemini baby. “She’s growing pretty fast, so [the due date] is a bit up in the air,” she says. “I love the YouTubes and the TikToks—even before I was talking about getting pregnant—of gender reveals, so we had our OB text my assistant Becca [our baby’s gender], and we bought two party poppers: one blue, one pink. She left out the one with the correct color inside, and Elliot and I popped it together. We both really thought it was a boy, so it was a true shock. My dream in life is to have a daughter [though], and Elliot is really excited for a girl too. I think it’s so typical for boys to want boys, but he has a lot of sisters. It was really sweet. He’s very sensitive.”
Because Richie Grainge has kept the pregnancy a secret up until now, she admits she hasn’t been able to dress the way she’s wanted to, instead opting for trench coats and the like to conceal her growing bump. “Now that we’re announcing it, I have so many ideas,” she says. “I’m not really tapping into maternity wear at all, if anything, I’m just sizing up. I’m also not buying an entirely new wardrobe for this pregnancy. I’ve bought a few pairs of pants in bigger sizes, but I’m wearing my same jackets, and sweaters, and trenches—I’m about to have some fun with it now that I can spread my wings and fly.”
As for her future daughter’s style, like a lot of expecting mothers, she’s turned to Pinterest for inspiration. “From the moment I found out I was pregnant, I have been going crazy online,” she says. “I have so many ideas—just cute and girly.” She’s also saved plenty of well-loved pieces over the years. “I’ve held onto things, and thought, ‘Oh my daughter will have this one day,’” she says. “I have a lot of little bags to pass down. I have a lot in mind.”
In addition to planning out her new baby’s wardrobe, Richie Grainge has also almost finished the nursery. “My house is currently under renovation, so I’m not living there right now,” the mom-to-be explains. “We found out we were pregnant four days after we moved out of our [previous] house. We were supposed to have at least 12 months to do the renovation, so I said, ‘Listen, we have a deadline now.’ And because of that, I was able to fully customise the room. I’ve had a lot of fun playing with pastel pinks. Really bringing to life a little girl fantasy within a nursery.”
And when Richie Grainge dreams about what the future holds for her and her daughter, she looks forward to being a role model. “I want to raise a smart, kind person,” she says. “I really value manners and being polite and being kind to everyone because that was instilled in me at a young age. Being someone’s best friend and helping guide them in life down a certain path. I’m so excited to hold someone’s hand through that, but most of all, to have my lifelong best friend like that.”
“I want to be protective but not too overly protective, and find that balance,” she continues. “I want to be involved, but not too involved. I need to find that balance and groove. I want my child to be a child, I’m not going to publicise my child on Instagram. I don’t plan to take that approach because I want my kid to have the option to do what she wants with her life. If she wants to be a private person, I want her to be able to make that choice, and if she wants to be a public person, she can make that choice for herself.”
That said, it hasn’t been easy for Richie Grainge herself—the influencer with 10.9 million followers on Instagram and 3.5 million followers on TikTok—to hold back during this transformational moment in her life. “My entire platform has been based on this kind of ‘best friend energy’—just being honest with the people that follow me,” she says. “And if you go on my socials, you’ll notice that I’ve pulled back. I’m definitely not posting as much. It’s been hard for me to have that connection with my followers when I can’t really be honest.”
“I wasn’t not posting because I felt like I wanted to have this grand announcement,” she continues. “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.’ I’m really excited, and I’m looking forward to opening up to those platforms and letting [my followers] know what I’ve been going through the last six months. I can’t wait to open that door back up.”
With that in mind, a baby shower and babymoon are all in the works—and we look forward to following along. “I’m going to tap into that in the next few months. I’ll probably do it closer to April,” Richie Grainge says. “I definitely plan on doing a baby shower and a babymoon.” The latter won’t be somewhere far-flung though, as the couple’s idea of relaxation isn’t hopping on a plane and flying for hours to some remote location. Instead, they’ll be keeping it close to home and spending their downtime somewhere in California.
As she heads into the final stretch of her pregnancy, she’s been thinking a lot about the advice given to expectant mothers, and what it all means. “I was having a really hard time [one week],” she says. “I was having a cry week. I would cry at the wall paint. I would cry about anything you could cry about. But you just have to sit back and just be in awe, and know that everything you’re going through is completely normal and all of the ups and downs are normal. It’s made me feel better knowing that other people have gone through the emotional ups and downs. That was comforting for me.”
Styled by Emma Morrison.
This article was originally published on Vogue.com.
