As she prepares for the arrival of her first baby, Sofia Richie is about to have a “nervous breakdown,” her father Lionel Richie said in an interview with Extra on Sunday. (Sofia married husband Elliot Grainge in April 2023.)
“I keep saying, ‘Calm down,’” Lionel said. “When the baby comes, then your nervous breakdown will start, you know.”
Lionel—who is a judge on American Idol—told the outlet that his life is “so full” at the moment: “I mean, 39 years ago was ‘We Are the World,’ the greatest night in pop, and now here it is on Netflix and is doing amazing, No. 1 around the world,” he said of his documentary, released back in January. “And then we’ve got my Sofie—my baby’s now having a baby. What the heck is going on?”
In January—just days after Sofia and Elliot sweetly announced they were going to be parents for the first time—Lionel told Entertainment Tonight “I’m so thrilled for Elliot and Sofia. They are just over the moon.” But there was one caveat, he said: he doesn’t want his grandchildren calling him “Grandpa,” per Page Six.
“I’m Pop-Pop,” he said. “We don’t get the ‘Grandpa’—yeah, that’s a little deep. Pop-Pop is where we’re going.” (Lionel is already Pop-Pop to daughter Nicole Richie’s two children with her husband Joel Madden, Harlow and Sparrow.)
Lionel has also admitted that hearing the news that his youngest child is having her own child “freaked [him] out a little bit,” adding in January “But at the same time, Elliot and Sofia are such a force. This little baby is gonna be souped up like you’ve never seen before. It’s amazing.”
Sofia and Elliot revealed their relationship in early 2021, and by April 2022 were engaged; at the time of his proposal, Sofia wrote of her to-be husband “Forever isn’t long enough.” After a Parisian bachelorette party and a bridal shower, the two married just over a year ago in France, where guests included Paris Hilton, Cameron Diaz, and more boldfaced names. And, very soon, baby will make three.
