Emily Ratajkowski announces birth of first child who she’ll raise to choose their own gender

Model says newborn arrived ‘on the most surreal, beautiful, and love-filled morning of my life’

Emily Ratajkowski has announced the arrival of her first child with husband Sebastian Bear-McClard.

The supermodel revealed that she had given birth to the infant, whose sex is unknown, on Instagram, where she shared a photo of herself holding the newborn.

“Sylvester Apollo Bear has joined us earth side. Sly arrived 3/8/21 on the most surreal, beautiful, and love-filled morning of my life,” Ratajkowski captioned the photo, which sees her appearing to breastfeed the infant, who is wearing a pink hat.

The 29-year-old first revealed that she was pregnant in October as the cover star of Vogue, with the model explaining in an accompanying essay that she and her husband didn’t want to know the sex of their baby because they hoped that the child would decide their gender themselves when they were older.

“When my husband and I tell friends that I’m pregnant, their first question after ‘Congratulations’ is almost always ‘Do you know what you want?’” Ratajkowski wrote. “We like to respond that we won’t know the gender until our child is 18 and that they’ll let us know then.

Read more: Emily Ratajkowski reveals she is pregnant on Vogue cover

“Everyone laughs at this. There is a truth to our line, though, one that hints at possibilities that are much more complex than whatever genitalia our child might be born with: the truth that we ultimately have no idea who - rather than what - is growing inside my belly.”

In the essay, Ratajkowski also said that she liked the idea of “forcing as few gender stereotypes on my child as possible”.

“I don’t like that we force gender-based preconceptions onto people, let alone babies,” she wrote at the time, adding that she wants to be “a parent who allows my child to show themself to me”.

The announcement of the baby’s birth prompted an outpouring of congratulatory comments from other celebrities, including Bella Hadid and Halsey.

“Congratulations sweet family,” Hadid commented, while Halsey wrote: “CONGRATULATIONS MAMA!!!”

Ratajkowski and Bear-McClard, an actor and producer, married at City Hall in New York City in 2018, with the model revealing she had tied the knot on Instagram shortly after.

Since announcing the couple was expecting their first child, Ratajkowski has shared numerous photos of her changing body on Instagram, where she has revealed that she will miss her pregnant stomach.

“Sometimes I feel like Winnie the Pooh in human form, other times like a fertility goddess with a juicy butt. I took this on a day where I was feeling the latter. Either way I know I’m going to miss this bump and those kicks very soon,” she captioned a series of nude photos of herself in February.