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Thomas Rhett is a father of five!
Rhett and his wife, Lauren Akins, announced on Friday evening (February 27) that they’ve welcomed their fifth child, the first baby boy of the family. Son Brave Elijah Akins was born last week — nearly two weeks early — weighing nearly 10 pounds, Akins said in an announcement on Instagram.
“Oh. my. goodness. Our hearts are just in a big ole puddle with this precious baby BOY,” the mother of five shared. “Brave Elijah Akins was born last week at almost 10 pounds and almost 2 weeks early-thank you Jesus this big boy didn’t wait another 2 weeks to be born 😍. Thomas Rhett was my biggest champion in labor & delivery🤍 He helped deliver him (😭), was the first one to see and *tearfully*, mixed with a bit of shock announce to us all in the room ‘It’s a BOY’😭🩵🥰 We are so grateful God chose us to have YOU cutie pie🥰🥰 Your four sisters are smitten and we are completely over the moon in love with you big Brave boy 🩵🌙🩵”
Brave Elijah joins big sisters Willa Gray (10), Ada James (8), Lennon Love (5) and Lillie Carolina (3). Rhett, 35, and Akins, 36, announced in August 2025 that Baby No. 5 was on the way. The country singer-songwriter updated the lyrics to his 2017 single, “Life Changes,” in the announcement video: “Well, I was wrapping my head around being a dad/ A big wrench got thrown in the plans we thought we had/ Now Lauren’s showing, got one on the way/ That’s five under 10, hey, what can I say?/ Yeah, life changes/ You wake up, ain’t nothin’ the same and life changes.”
Since making the pregnancy announcement, Akins and Rhett shared some sweet moments while waiting for Baby No. 5’s arrival. Akins shared a glimpse of the moment she told Rhett and the couple’s four daughters about the pregnancy. She also jokingly shared the “gender reveal” in a clip shared on TikTok last month (however, they never publicly announced whether they’d welcome a boy or a girl).
Rhett is one of several country stars welcoming a baby into the family in 2026, along with Emmy Russell (late legend Loretta Lynn's granddaughter), Parker McCollum, iHeartRadio's Bobby Bones, Dylan Marlowe (whose wife is pregnant with twins) and more. See the list of pregnancy announcements here.