Michael Phelps’ wife gives birth to fourth baby

‘We’re so blessed to be given a fourth child. We’re now a family of six!’ Phelps says

Michael Phelps has expanded his family once more.

On Monday 22 January, the swimming legend took to Instagram to make the announcement alongside his wife, Nicole Phelps. “@mrs.nicolephelps and I wanna welcome Nico Michael Phelps to the world,” the caption began.

“Born on 1/16. We’re so blessed to be given a fourth child. We’re now a family of six!”

Nico is the fourth boy in the Phelps’ family, joining his older brothers Boomer, seven, Beckett, five, and Maverick, four.

The couple first announced they were expecting again in October 2023, when Nicole made an Instagram post to celebrate their seventh wedding anniversary. “A memory from Oct 29 over the last seven years with you @m_phelps00 (I couldn’t find 2019s pic) Happy Anniversary to my best friend, hubby and partner through life. I couldn’t have asked for anyone better!” her caption began.

One of the photos in her carousel featured the former Miss California showing off her growing baby bump alongside her Olympian husband.

“For those that are wondering… yes! We’re expecting our fourth Phelps in 2024,” she finished off the caption alongside blue heart emojis.

At the time, many people assumed the colour of the hearts was a subtle signal that this baby would be another boy. “Take it four blue hearts means it’s a little boy?” one person wrote in the comments at the time.

But Nicole didn’t formally confirm the assumptions until a couple of days later.

“I would have loved to have a daughter for Michael so he could have that father-daughter bond that I experienced growing up,” Nicole said in an interview withToday prior to giving birth. “But I strongly believe you’re given what you’re supposed to have, and I’m really excited to have another boy.”

“Sometimes it’s difficult when people say: ‘Oh, you need that girl,’” she continued. “I’m like: ‘No, I really don’t.’”

She also explained that this pregnancy required her to take “some time to process”.

“After I took the test, I came out of the bathroom and Michael asked: ‘What’s wrong?’ He said, I looked like I had seen a ghost,” Nicole recalled. “He was ecstatic. Michael has been excited from the start.”

Although, she clarified that it wasn’t because she was unhappy about the unexpected news. “Listen, I’m a mom and I know how much work that it takes,” she explained.

“I personally believe in pretty much sacrificing two years of my life to this new baby. But we are so excited. I don’t even want to call him a surprise because he is wanted. He’s the bonus we didn’t know we needed.”

Both Nicole and Michael have previously opened up about parenthood during an interview with People back in 2021, where the swimmer discussed how his sons “talk about their emotions”.

“It gives me a lot of hope. I just want them to be as prepared as they can be,” he told the outlet at the time.

“We don’t hide from emotions,” his wife added. “We teach them that daddy or mommy is having a moment and we need to either give them space or ask if they want a hug. And that’s taught them they have permission for their feelings to be heard too.”