This week, actor Josh Duhamel and his wife Audra Mari announced that they were expecting a baby together. The child is the first of the couple, and second overall for Duhamel. Posting on their Instagram page in a joint announcement, the photo shows Mari’s hand holding a set of sonogram photos of their unborn child, next to some white flowers. “Baby Duhamel coming soon”, they wrote, followed by a white heart emoji.
Josh Duhamel began his career as an actor as Leo Du Pres in the long-running soap opera All My Children. Duhamel is perhaps known for his roles in the Transformers movies, as well as for portraying the character of Danny McCoy in the comedy-drama series Las Vegas. More recently, Duhamel starred as the titular character’s father in the LGBTQ+ teen movie Love, Simon, as well as the romantic action-comedy Shotgun Wedding.
Previously, Duhamel was married to musician Fergie, known for both her solo career and as a member of the Black Eyed Peas. Duhamel and Fergie, whose real name is Stacy Ann Ferguson, married in 2009 after five years of dating. The former couple had one son, Axl, before separating in 2017. Their divorce was finalized in 2019.
Duhamel and Mari began dating in 2018, and got engaged in 2022, marrying later that year. On the couple’s Instagram announcement, Duhamel’s ex-wife, Fergie, congratulated her former husband. “I am truly happy for you guys,” the musician wrote. “Axl can’t wait to be a big brother.”
Who is Audra Mari?
Audra Mari is a model and former beauty queen, holding three titles across four pageants. Mari was born in 1994 and was raised in North Dakota, where she won her first titles. Mari was first-runner-up for Miss Teen USA 2011, representing her home state, before winning Miss North Dakota USA in 2014. Later, Mari ranked in the top 11 for Miss World 2016. As the top-ranking American — both of the U.S. and of the American continents — in the competition, Mari was granted the title of Miss World Americas the same year.
Outside of pageants, Audra Mari has worked as a model for numerous fashion brands. Later, she worked on television, presenting travel and shopping programs across multiple TV channels. It was during this time she met Josh Duhamel. The couple share a 21-year age difference, and last year, poked fun at their age gap by dressing as Anna Nicole Smith and J Howard Marshall for Halloween. At the time, Smith and Marshall were the couple with the world’s largest age gap, at the age of 22 and 89, respectively.