Jenna Dewan is pregnant!
PEOPLE confirmed Tuesday morning that the actress and dancer, 38, and her actor boyfriend Steve Kazee are expecting their first child together, with the couple telling PEOPLE exclusively, “We are beyond overjoyed and couldn’t be happier to be expanding our family!”
While the baby on the way will be the first for Tony winner Kazee, 43, Dewan is already a mom to 6-year-old daughter Everly with ex Channing Tatum.
The former World of Dance host has spoken about her experience in being a mom in the past, even opening up to Harper’s Bazaar in May 2018 about how Everly’s birth has affected how she views her career.
“Whether you try and hide it or not, most actresses and actors have a certain sense of anxious desperation about what their next job is,” Dewan said. “As soon as I had Everly, it went away. I had this freedom of, ‘Well, I could never work another day in my life, and I have a purpose.’ “
Want all the latest pregnancy and “birth announcements, plus celebrity mom blogs? Click here to get those and more in the PEOPLE Parents newsletter.
Jenna Dewan’s Daughter Everly, 6, Gets a Visit From the Tooth Fairy: “No More Front Teeth!”
In that same vein, Dewan strives to teach her daughter to embrace her individuality, having been open in the past about how she encourages Everly to rock her own “funky” style and true self.
“Starting early and starting to build her confidence in her true authenticity and herself is important,” the Step Up star told PEOPLE in 2017 of how she teaches Everly about self-esteem. “Because then when the influences come in that will try and tell her, ‘You’re not great’ and ‘You’re not amazing,’ she’ll have that strong sense of reminding.”
Explained the Gracefully You author further, “I try and teach her to be an individual and find things she’s good at … and facilitating these things so her confidence builds at a young age.”
There are challenges, though: “There [are] definitely apprehensions I have about raising a child in the new social-media day and age. There’s no guide book. We’re starting to see now how that’s affecting young people.”
In the meantime, though, Everly is even teaching her mom the importance of caring for the planet. As Dewan told PEOPLE in May 2018, the mother-daughter duo “do a lot of things in nature.”
“She goes to a lot of different camps where she is learning about nature, where she is with the trees, and we go on vacations, and we do trips just within nature,” she added. “I think learning early to respect it [is important].”
“She goes to a ‘fairy’ camp,” Dewan continued with a laugh, “which sounds really ‘girly’ but it is actually very ‘Girl Scout-y.’ They go into the parks, and they learn all about how to be respectful to nature.”
“She’ll tell me, ‘Mommy, you need to recycle that,’ or, ‘Be careful, don’t disrespect nature!’ ” she added. “It starts young. She’s only 4 and she already has that instilled in her, so I think I’m doing something right.”
Fun in the Sun! Jenna Dewan and Everly, 6, Splash Around During Mother-Daughter Day at the Beach
PEOPLE confirmed in October that Dewan and the Broadway star had been “dating for months.” They then spent her December birthday and Valentine’s Day together, and Kazee met Everly.
“She’s very happy,” a source told PEOPLE of Dewan this past March. “Jenna thinks he’s great with her daughter.”
“[Steve] is very supportive of her as a mom,” another insider told PEOPLE in June. “He is amazing with Everly. Jenna loves having Steve around. She feels very lucky to be dating him.”
“There are talks about the future,” added the June source. “Jenna loves being a mom and would love to have another baby and a sibling for Everly.”
Dewan’s book Gracefully You: How to Live Your Best Life Every Day, out Oct. 22, is available for pre-order now on amazon.com.
Source: Read Full Article