Inspiration amid chaos. Pregnant Keshia Knight Pulliam revealed on her Play.it podcast, “Kandidly Keshia,” on Friday, August 19, that she already has a name in mind for her unborn baby girl.
“I was back and forth on if I wanted to share this or not, but I decided that I would because it is so hard for me to keep it in,” Pulliam, 37, said. “I’m so excited about her. Her name is … Ella Grace.”
The former child star explained that while she had already locked down her daughter’s first name, “Grace” was inspire by the recent events that have arisen surrounding her and her estranged husband’s relationship.
“When I tell you through all of this the grace of God has so been with us and has covered us and protected us — she’s been my saving grace to get through it. It’s knowing that it’s not about me. Knowing that on days when I want to curl up in the bed, pull the covers over my head and cry until my eyes fall out, that is not an option, because she feels everything I feel, and right now, it is bigger than me — it’s about her. It is about her being OK.”
Pulliam announced her pregnancy news via Instagram on Sunday, July 17, excitedly holding up a cupcake frosted in pink to indicate that she was having a baby girl.
Just over a week later, her estranged husband, Ed Hartwell, filed for divorce and demanded a paternity test to determine whether he is the father of her baby. He explained in an interview shortly afterward that he knew that if Pulliam wanted something, she would find a way to get it — and the couple had stopped having sex early on in the marriage.
“She wanted a baby really fast, and what I was trying to explain to her was that — from my beliefs, from seeing other successful people — that when you first get married, especially since we didn’t have a long courtship, that we should actually focus on each other and not just have a baby,” he told Page Six TV on Thursday, July 28. “That’s something she really did want to do.”
Most recently, Pulliam alleged in court documents that Hartwell, 38, was plotting to “obstruct” her pregnancy, and had been “mentally and emotionally abusive,” accusations that the former NFL player denied.
