The Bachelor star Nick Viall made a huge announcement on Aug. 8, 2023, as he revealed he and his fiancée Natalie Joy are expecting their first child together. “Our biggest dream came true,” the Viall Files podcast host and his wife captioned the joint Instagram announcement.
The announcement was accompanied by several black-and-white photos, including a photo shoot of the couple standing in a field with their hands together cupping Joy’s baby bump. The second photo in the series showed their ultrasound while the third was a close-up shot of Joy’s stomach, with her hand sporting her engagement ring resting on her baby bump.
Viall gushed about the news on his Instagram Story as well, as he wrote below the same ultrasound photo, “Being a dad is going to be so cool. Greatest dream come true of my life.” He also shared the final photo from the post and joked above it, “Our baby will be so beautiful… and obviously humble.”
Viall’s Instagram comments were filled with congratulatory messages from other reality stars, including Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix, who wrote, “omg!! congratulations.” Bachelor in Paradise winner Victoria Fuller wrote, “I love you guys🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍 all 3 of you… feel like I’ve been hiding this for centuries.” Actress Olivia Holt commented, “congrats sugar! little one is about to have the most iconic parents.”
Viall and Joy’s announcement came several months after the pair got engaged. The podcast host posted their engagement photos on Instagram on Jan. 12, 2023, writing, “For the rest of my life, it’s you.” A few days later, he shared a video showing a glimpse of the proposal, in which he told Joy, “I can’t wait to start a family with you. It’s unreal to me that you get to be the mother of my children. I love you.”
The couple has been together since July 2020 after first meeting on social media. According to People, Joy, a surgical technologist and a model, reached out to the Bachelor alum on Instagram and the two dated privately for several months before going public. Viall later revealed that he’d turned her down at first because he was “self-conscious” about their 18-year age gap, he told The Squeeze podcast in May 2023.
“We started messaging, and I carded her,” Viall, 42, admitted on the podcast. While Viall was cautious about Joy, 24, at first, she said her feelings developed much quicker. “I was like, I am going to spend the rest of my life with this man, and I knew it and he didn’t, so I was like, I’m gonna hang on because he’ll come around,” she spilled.