Halle Bailey Opens Up about Her Son, Halo, After Her “Beautiful, Private” Pregnancy

Latest News: Halle Bailey Discusses the Birth of Her Son, Halo

Halle Bailey spoke publicly for the first time about the December 2023 birth of her son, Halo, explaining that she decided to keep her pregnancy a secret to ensure a “beautiful, private, healthy time in my journey.” The 23-year-old and her boyfriend, rapper DDG, repeatedly dodged speculation about a possible pregnancy, though The Little Mermaid star was very much aware some fans had figured out the truth. She finally ended the suspense with an Instagram post on January 6 announcing Halo’s birth.

In addition to her growing family, the singer and actor has had plenty to celebrate of late. Her latest movie The Color Purple hit theaters on Christmas Day, and she is also nominated for a 2024 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for “Angel.” The track was released in August ahead of her debut solo album that’s currently in the works.

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Who Is Halle Bailey?

Halle Bailey is a singer and actor known as one half of the singing duo Chloe x Halle, along with her sister Chlöe Bailey. The pair rose to prominence after posting music videos on YouTube and winning the Radio Disney singing competition Next Big Thing. They have been nominated for five Grammy Awards, including Best Urban Contemporary Album for 2018’s The Kids Are Alright and Best Progressive R&B Album for 2020’s Ungodly Hour. Halle also received a 2024 nomination for her solo song “Angel.” In addition to her singing career, Halle is a rising actor whose roles have included Sky Forster in the TV show Grown-ish, Ariel in Disney’s live-action movie The Little Mermaid, and a supporting part in 2023’s The Color Purple, based on the 1982 novel by Alice Walker.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: Halle Lynn Bailey
BORN: March 27, 2000
BIRTHPLACE: Atlanta, Georgia
SIBLINGS: Ski, Chlöe Bailey, and Branson
CHILD: Halo
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Aries

Early Life, Parents, and Siblings

Halle Lynn Bailey was born on March 27, 2000, in Atlanta. She was raised in nearby Mableton by parents Courtney and Doug Bailey. Halle has three siblings: older sisters Ski and Chlöe, as well as younger brother Branson.

Halle has said her name was at least partially inspired by actor Halle Berry. “There’s no one else I would rather have a similar name to cause she’s so cool,” she said of Berry. Bailey told TV hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos in 2023 that her parents originally wanted to name her Hailey, but that wouldn’t have worked with her similar-sounding last name.

Her passion for performing developed at an early age while watching her sister Chlöe sing, dance, and act. Their first performance together was at a summer camp at Spelman College when Halle was 5 years old and Chlöe was 7. Also like Chlöe, Halle began her acting career in childhood, appearing in commercials and the 2006 film Last Holiday starring Queen Latifah. A year later, she acted in two episodes of the TV sitcom House of Payne, created by Tyler Perry.

However, the sisters primarily focused on music. When Halle and Chlöe were 8 and 10 years old, respectively, their father, a stockbroker with no connections to the entertainment industry, began teaching them how to write songs. The siblings also learned how to play musical instruments through watching video tutorials on YouTube. Halle plays the electric guitar and is a fan of Lenny Kravitz and Jimi Hendrix.

Although the two sisters began performing together in Atlanta, Courtney and Doug decided to move their family to Los Angeles in 2012 to give the budding musicians more opportunities.

Chloe x Halle

When Halle was 11, she and her sister began performing music covers and uploading the videos to YouTube. Their first, filmed by older sister Ski, was a rendition of “Best Thing I Never Had” by Beyoncé in 2011. Their performance of another Beyoncé track, “Pretty Hurts,” went viral in 2013 and has since amassed more than 22 million views.

Now known as Chloe x Halle, the sisters appeared on Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show in April 2012 and began to draw more attention for their music. That same year, the duo won the Radio Disney music competition Next Big Thing and an appearance on a Disney Channel series. In 2013, they performed the original song “Unstoppable” on a Season 2 episode of the kid sitcom Austin & Ally.

The siblings also caught the eye of Beyoncé, herself, as the pop star shared their “Pretty Hurts” cover on her Facebook page in 2014. A year later, she signed Chloe x Halle to a $1 million contract with her label, Parkwood Entertainment.

In April 2016, the sisters appeared in the legendary singer’s music video for “Lemonade” and, days later, released their debut EP Sugar Symphony. They also served as an opening act during the European leg of Beyoncé’s Formation tour.

Now backed by one of the biggest names in music, Halle and her sister were ready to become bona fide stars. Chloe x Halle released The Two of Us in 2017, a mixtape that Rolling Stone recognized among that year’s best R&B albums. They also composed the single “Grown” that served as the theme song for the Freeform series Grown-ish, debuting in January 2018.

Next, they received nominations for two Grammy Awards—Best New Artist and Best Urban Contemporary Album—off the success of their 2018 album The Kids Are Alright. In February 2019, they performed “America the Beautiful” at Super Bowl LIII.

Their subsequent album, 2020’s Ungodly Hour, was an even bigger hit and propelled the duo into the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time with the single “Do It.” The sisters received three more Grammy nominations in 2021: Best R&B Song, Best Progressive R&B Album, and Best Traditional R&B Performance.

Around this time, the siblings created separate Instagram accounts and began to focus on their individual music and acting projects. Still, they have appeared together in limited engagements and brand sponsorships since and, as recently as August 2023, spoke about a forthcoming third Chloe x Halle album.

Movies and TV Shows

Beyond music, Halle and Chlöe also have collaborated as actors. In addition to their musical contribution to Grown-ish, the sisters had regular roles on the dramedy series as twin sisters Sky (Halle) and Jazz Forster (Chlöe).

Halle appeared in 53 episodes over four seasons and began to show her true potential as an actor, even impressing her sister. “Like, sometimes you’ll be saying lines, I’ll be thinking I’m actually just having a regular conversation with her,” Chlöe told the Los Angeles Times. “She can make it feel so real and authentic to the point where her own sister, who is constantly with her, forgets that we’re acting.” Halle received an NAACP Image Awards nomination for the role in 2020.

Playing Ariel in The Little Mermaid

After establishing herself as an actor on Grown-ish, Halle earned her first starring role in a movie in July 2019 as Disney announced she would play Ariel in a live-action adaptation of the 1989 animated classic The Little Mermaid. According to film director Rob Marshall, Bailey possessed a “rare combination of spirit, heart, youth, innocence, and substance—plus a glorious singing voice—all intrinsic qualities necessary to play this iconic role.”

However, Bailey’s casting was the subject of racist backlash from some fans of the animated original, who felt that a Black actor shouldn’t portray the iconic Disney princess. The hashtag #NotMyAriel began trending on social media site Twitter, now known as X.

In a 2022 interview with Variety, Bailey said she was able to overcome the hurtful comments after her grandparents shared examples of the discrimination they had faced in their lifetimes. “It was an inspiring and beautiful thing to hear their words of encouragement, telling me, ‘You don’t understand what this is doing for us, for our community, for all the little Black and brown girls who are going to see themselves in you,’” she recalled.

Response to the 2023 movie was generally positive, with Bailey’s vocals receiving praise. Among others, she performed an original song “For the First Time” for the film’s soundtrack. Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel in the 1989 cartoon, gave a glowing endorsement of Bailey: “She’s brilliant. I did get to meet her a few times and chat with her and just tell her how proud I was of her, and I love that she has a purity of heart and a pure spirit, and you can see that vulnerability and that childlike bravery and courage coming through, and it’s beautiful.”

The Color Purple

Following The Little Mermaid, Bailey immediately lent her acting and vocals to another movie musical, The Color Purple (2023), based on the stage musical of the same name. Both works are inspired by Alice Walker’s 1982 novel. Released in December 2023 and produced by Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg, the movie starred Taraji P. Henson, Ciara, Colman Domingo, Danielle Brooks, and Fantasia Barrino. Bailey portrayed young Nettie, a counterpart to Ciara’s character.

At the request of director Blitz Bazawule, Bailey co-wrote the original song “Keep It Movin’” for the film and performed it with onscreen sister Phylicia Pearl Mpasi. “The movie is filled with the amazing songs already, so when I first heard that I’m like intimidated, cause you’re like, ‘How the hell am I gonna write something that lives up to all these other songs?’” Bailey said in a Variety interview. “But I was really grateful for it, because I felt like I could pull from my experience with my own sister, Chlöe.”

Solo Music Career

In between her two movie roles, Bailey continued to make music and in August 2023 released “Angel,” the lead single from her upcoming debut studio album. “Angel” earned Bailey a 2024 Grammy nomination—her first as a solo artist—for Best R&B Song.

Although the singer told Cosmopolitan in September 2023 her EP would be ready by the end of that year, the project has yet to be released. “It’s an emotional, vulnerable kind of music. It’s also a love letter to myself and my younger self and my future self,” Bailey said.

Boyfriend DDG and Son

Bailey is currently in a relationship with 26-year-old rapper Darryl Dwayne Granberry Jr., known as DDG. The couple were first spotted together in January 2022 while attending Usher’s residency in Las Vegas, and they confirmed their relationship soon after in March. The couple have one child, a son named Halo, born in December 2023.

Like Bailey, DDG—originally from Pontiac, Michigan—began his career by uploading video clips to YouTube. According to People, he signed with Epic Records in 2018 before creating his own label, Zooted Music, in 2020. Bailey has said she was a fan of his music for years before the pair first connected over a direct message on social media. She also appeared in the 2022 music video for his song, “If I Want You.”

The pair and their relationship have been the subject of fan and media speculation for a variety of reasons. In July 2023, DDG seemingly criticized Bailey’s The Little Mermaid press tour in his new song, “Famous,” which included these lyrics: “Why is y’all holdin’ hands in the photo? You know I’m insecure, that’s a no-no.” The line was believed to be referencing a photo of Bailey holding hands with her co-star Jonah Hauer-King.

Later that year, rumors circulated that Bailey might be pregnant after she wore a strategically tailored black and white dress to the Glamour Women of the Year Awards in October 2023. Neither Bailey nor DDG confirmed or denied the gossip until January 6, 2024, when Bailey announced Halo’s birth on Instagram. In a video posted to YouTube days later, DDG described Bailey as a “great mom,” adding, “I wouldn’t chose no other person in the world to have a child with.”

Quotes

• My mindset is to work, work, work so that I can see the payoff and move towards my goals. That’s what I’m used to.

• Mentally, sometimes it’s really difficult being in this industry, knowing that there are so many opinions [about] you and what you’re doing, or what you should be, or what you could be doing better. People sometimes put you on this pedestal. They forget that you’re a real human being. They forget that you have feelings, that you cry.

• Everyone has something to offer. Everyone has a gift. The more you hone in on that gift and give it back to the world, the more you will feel better about what you’re doing in this life. Don’t be discouraged. You already have it in you.

• I literally feel most comfortable when I’m in my music space. That’s where I’m happiest. That’s where I feel like I have the most freedom. So, when it comes to combining this new world of acting that I’m not as used to, it’s really cool to be able to incorporate that as well as my songwriting.

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