Maria Menounos Welcomes Her First Child via Surrogate

Hollywood star Maria Menounos and her husband Keven Undergaro are officially parents!

The E! News host officially welcomed her first child via surrogate on June 23. “It was the most special moment of my life,” she told Us Weekly. “The doctor literally grabbed her and hiked her onto me. I sat with her on my chest, and Keven and I kept looking at each other like, ‘Oh, my God.’ It was just pure joy.”

The couple wanted to give their new addition a Greek name and eventually settled on Athena Alexandra. “We had a list, and everyone says when you see the baby, you’ll know, but that was totally untrue for us. We were like, “What do we do?” Menounos said. “Athena is the goddess of war and wisdom, and Keven loved the power of that name, so that was it.”

The couple’s “miracle baby” comes after a especially difficult past 10 years for Menounos. The 45-year-old star has struggled with infertility, battled pancreatic cancer and recovered from the removal of a brain tumor. Not letting any of it stop her on her way to motherhood.

Despite her long wait for motherhood, Menounos noted that being a mom is “better than I could’ve ever imagined. It’s euphoric. For so long, I’ve felt something’s been missing. I’d go to kids’ birthday parties, and I’d be a little sad because I wanted my own family. And now I feel so grounded, like I finally know where I belong.”

Maria Menounos and Keven Undergaro Reveal the Sex of Their First Child

Menounos and Undergaro revealed the sex of their soon-to-be first child on the Heal Squad x Maria Menounos podcast on April 24.

After joking about slipping up and sharing the news with her dad and almost telling friends and family members many times, Menounos made the big announcement. “We’re very excited to announce we have a baby girl coming,” Menounos shared, dispelling rumors that the blue dress she wore when announcing her pregnancy was indicative of her baby’s gender.

Menounos proudly added that the first gift that she bought for her daughter was a plush pink Elephant. Noting that she will be taking special care to make sure that it is newborn-safe.

After a Decade of Trying, Maria Menounos Is Expecting Via Surrogate

The happy couple first shared their happy news on February 7 during an episode of Live with Kelly & Ryan. During the interview, Kelly Ripa asked about Menounos’ summer plans. The actress cheekily responded that she was having to move up her visit to Greece because “We are having a baby!”

“I’m so grateful. I’m emotional. I’m super excited,” the mom-to-be tearily noted before going on to talk about her and her husband’s long road to parenthood. "[It’s been] almost like a decade. It’s been a long time. We’ve done everything, literally everything. They tried to get me pregnant that didn’t work. Keven had a surgery, that didn’t work. He’s hung me upside down like a chicken, that didn’t work. We did everything, but we got so lucky.”

Menounos also thanked all of those who had helped her along her journey. “In fact, Zoe Saldana and Kim Kardashian have been so helpful to me in this journey. They both gave me all their advice and people and Kim especially gave me this wonderful lawyer named Andy and he found me this woman, Stephanie, who helped me find our surrogate.”

“We’re just so so grateful because these people really help you bring life forward and without them we wouldn’t have been able to do this,” Menounos added about her surrogate. “Our surrogate and her family are literal angels. I’m so grateful that we’re gonna have this extended family our baby will be part of, and we’re just so grateful to everybody who’s helped us along the way. This is surreal. This is wild. I can’t believe I’m telling everybody this right now.”

In a personal Instagram post the EveryGirl’s Guide to Life author shared a clip from the show and thanked her late mother for her supernatural hand in her journey. “I know my mom had a cup of greek coffee with God and said it’s time,” she wrote in the caption. “So grateful for the blessing in our lives. Can’t believe I’m sharing this news without her in the physical, but I know she made it happen on the other side and is going to be with me every step of the way.”

Our best to Menounos and Undergaro on their new addition!