T.I. and Tiny surprised the world on Christmas night when they announced they were expecting a new bundle of joy.
Tiny made the announcement with an adorable Instagram video.
“Thank you to my family for my wonderful gifts,” said Tiny, before pointing to her belly, which had a red bow on it. “But most of all thank you for our new heir to the throne. This is the best Christmas gift you could’ve ever gave me.”
Now, weeks later, the 40-year-old singer and reality star says she was totally caught off guard this time. “This was not planned at all,” she tells ESSENCE.
“It kind of snuck up on me. I was a little shocked but I was okay with it because I was in between, ‘Do I want a baby? No I don’t want a baby. Do I want a baby?’ I guess I did want a baby.”
Tiny has two sons with her husband, Clifford ‘King’ Joseph Harris III, 11, and Major Philant Harris, 7. Her 19-year-old daughter, Zonnique Pullins, is from a previous relationship. T.I. has three other children from previous relationships, sons, Domani Uriah Harris and Messiah Ya’Majesty Harris, and daughter Deyjah Imani Harris. Tiny’s last pregnancy in 2007 ended tragically when her daughter Leyah Amore Harris was stillborn. This time, she’s following doctor’s orders to stay off her feet and rest.
Despite it all, she describes this pregnancy as “one of the best” she’s ever had. “I’ve been feeling good, the baby’s great,” she says.
Does she think about a high-risk pregnancy at 40? Sure. “It’s crossed my mind, of course. I am so much older. I’m about to have a 20-year-old (daughter Zonnique) in March so it was kind of a little shaky for me, but I feel like … I don’t feel old at all. These days people are having babies later. A lot of people are having babies in their 30s and 40s now.”
Coincidentally, Tiny’s former band mate Kandi Burruss gave birth to her second child, a son, at 39 yesterday.
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“I’m so excited for her because she’s always wanted a boy and she finally got one,” Tiny tells ESSENCE. “We’re always talking about how our kids are going to get to grow up and play with each other as best friends because they’re going to be so close in age.”
For now, Tiny is keeping mum on the sex of her child, but she has given up the naming duties to T.I. “I came up with a unisex name that I thought would be dope, but I’m gonna let him have this one,” she says.
“Whatever we decide, it will go along with the other kids’ names that we have, Major and King.”
We’ll get to see more of her family’s reactions to the pregnancy on the new season of T.I. and Tiny: The Family Hustle, airing on VH1 later this year.