Lily Collins and her husband, Charlie McDowell, are officially parents!
Congratulations are in order for the couple, who welcomed their first child—a baby girl named Tove Jane—via surrogate this week. “Welcome to the centre of our world Tove Jane McDowell. Words will never express our endless gratitude for our incredible surrogate and everyone who helped us along the way. We love you to the moon and back again,” Collins wrote on Instagram, sharing an adorable photo of baby Tove in a flowered bonnet.
The news comes as a surprise, since neither Collins nor McDowell publicly announced they were expecting a baby. Each has spoken about wanting a family, however, with Collins previously mentioning the fact to Us Weekly. “My reason to finally start talking about [my eating disorder] was the moment I realised I wanted a family. I wanted kids. I didn’t want this to be something I bring into that,” she told the publication in 2017, prior to meeting her husband.
Meanwhile, McDowell—who works as a director and screenwriter—told E! last October that the two were thinking of starting their family. “We would like to move into that next stage, so we’ll see when it happens,” he added coyly.
Collins and McDowell got married in September 2021, keeping their Colorado wedding private and intimate. They first met on the set of the 2019 film Gilded Rage, which he directed and in which she appeared. Last year, the Emily in Paris star celebrated their three-year wedding anniversary on Instagram, writing that “the best is still to come”—perhaps alluding to the arrival of their baby girl.
