Lionel Richie is excited to become a grandparent again when his youngest daughter, Sofia Richie Grainge, welcomes her first baby with her husband, Elliot Grainge.
“Lionel is absolutely thrilled for Sofia and Elliot. He was ecstatic when they told him and the family that they were expecting their first child,” a source exclusively tells Us Weekly. “Sofia is Lionel’s youngest, and it was such a bittersweet moment for him, because he realizes his baby girl is all grown up and going to become a mom. He couldn’t hold back the tears.”
Richie Grainge, 25, announced her pregnancy on Thursday, January 25, telling Vogue that she is expecting a baby girl.
“It was such a joyous moment for him,” the insider adds of the singer, 74. “ Lionel and Lucian [Grainge, Elliot’s dad], have been close for years, so they’re definitely celebrating this incredible time together. Lionel’s heart is so full with love for the both of them, and he knows they’re going to make amazing parents.”
Richie Grainge is the only daughter of Richie and his ex-wife Diane Alexander, who also share son Miles. The model informed both sets of future grandparents of her pregnancy news by hiding multiple positive tests inside an Hermès box.
“We went to Elliot’s parents, who live about five minutes away from us, and I think I had a box … and I told everyone that I had bought them a gift from Milan Fashion Week,” Richie Grainge recalled to Vogue. “Everyone was like, ‘Ooooh, Hermes!’ But then they opened it and it had all three of the pregnancy tests [in it]. That’s how we told all of our parents. Watching their reaction go from like, ‘I’m about to get an expensive present’ to like, ‘I’m about to get a grandchild’ was really sweet.”
Lionel is already a proud grandfather to eldest daughter Nicole Richie’s two children with husband Joel Madden. (Lionel and his first ex-wife, Brenda Harvey, adopted Nicole when she was 9 years old.)
“While it may take me a moment to adjust to being called granddad, I am extremely happy and proud of Nicole and Joel,” Lionel said in a 2008 statement after Nicole, now 42, gave birth to her first child. “Harlow Winter Kate Madden, the newest and most beautiful addition to the Richie clan, is a lucky little girl. She was surrounded by a great deal of love at that hospital as she entered the world. Nicole and Joel are going to be wonderful parents.”
Nicole and Madden, 44, welcomed son Sparrow one year later.
With reporting by Sarah Jones
