In August, the four-time Olympic gold medalist and her two-time Super Bowl winning husband Aaron Ross welcomed their son, Aaron Jermaine Ross II. Since becoming a mom, the 32-year-old shares with ESSENCE how life with her baby boy has changed her, her prayer over his growth and a peak inside his gorgeous nursery!
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He’s Here!
Born on August 12, 2017, baby Aaron II–affectionately known by his parents as “Deucey”–has brought such a joy into his mother’s life.
“Oh man, being a mom is everything I hoped for and more,” says Richards-Ross. “I feel moms always tell you it’s the most incredible journey you’ll ever go on. For me, I’ve been fortunate to have lots of amazing journeys in my life. By far, hands down, this one, of course it’s a lot of work, I mean it’s long hours, but man, they’re special. Now he’s starting to smile at me, purposefully smile, and literally it just melts my heart. So it’s just been amazing. I’ve been really fortunate. Ross and I are both home so we both are getting to share in it, so it’s just been a wonderful, wonderful experience. Everything now kind of comes into focus, as to what’s important.”
“It was really awesome to do the project of actually building a custom room for [Deucey] and then also decorating it.,” Richards-Ross shares. “So it’s really great. I wanted something kind of neutral. I want him to feel the love that we have for him. Working with [Celebrity Nursery & Kids Space Designer] Vanessa [Antonelli] was incredible. She pays attention to every single detail, from the books on the shelf, to his little sneakers that are there that I told my husband I was pregnant with.”
“There’s definitely a little bit of concern for our son playing football. But for us, it’s all about him being active. So we want to introduce him to a lot of sports. My dad played soccer, so my dad wants him to be a soccer player. Of course, I would love for him to run track. Ross played basketball in high school. So for us it’s just really about him being active, and then if he falls in love with one of the sports, of course we’ll support him. His name is on the wall that lights up. Even if his name is never on a jersey or anything, he will always light up our hearts. So it was really cool to go through, and think through every single phase of the room. I wanted the love we have for him to fill the room.”
“The funniest thing my son does, people don’t believe me, but he literally punches me in the face,” says Richards-Ross. “He literally pulls his hand back, balls his fist up, and punches me. I have tried to record it to show other people, but I feel like he literally looks at me, and I think he’s gonna be a boxer. He just straight rights me all the time, punches me in my face. It’s so funny. He punches me a lot.”
“It was really awesome to do the project of actually building a custom room for him, and then also decorating it,” Richards-Ross reveals. “I wanted something kind of neutral. It really does look more blue than it is. The grass cloth wallpaper is actually more gray than blue, but [in pictures] it’s pretty blue. I just wanted something neutral, and I wanted something that felt open and bright. To me, the wallpaper on the back wall, it just seems like endless possibility. It is marble but it also kind of feels like the galaxy. So it was really cool.”
“There’s nothing greater than being at a point in your life where you’re just ready to become a parent,” says Richards-Ross. “I think for my husband and I, it’s like we accomplished everything we wanted to and God blessed us with this amazing gift. Deucey was definitely created in love. The greatest wish I have for my son is that he knows the love of the Lord, and that he fulfills his potential in Christ. That’s the most important thing. As long as he knows God loves him, and he has a good relationship with God, and he is able to fulfill his full potential, and we give him everything that he needs to be able to do that, I’ll be a really happy mom.”
23 Sweet Photos Of Morris Chestnut And Pam Byse Over The Years
While the dreamy actor has been the imaginary husband of many Black women since he got his big break in the early '90s, his heart has always been with Pam.
As far as one can remember, Morris Chestnut has been a heartthrob. Whether he was a football star with a bright future growing up in South Central LA in Boyz n the Hood or an actual professional football player preparing to get married only to uncover a bombshell about his bride and his best man in, of course, The Best Man, the camera has always been kind to the dreamy star. But just as long as we’ve known him and been captivated by his stunning good looks, he’s been off the market.
Chestnut is married to Pam Byse, whom he wed in 1995. The couple share two children, a son and daughter named Grant and Paige, and have managed to only get finer through the years. It’s true; Pam is gorgeous, also! But her own good looks are not not what made him realize he’d found his person.
“When I met my wife, there were a lot of qualities I was paying attention to. I knew that she would be a great mother just for how she cared for her nephew and her family,” he told ESSENCE in 2020. “She respected her mother and she respected her family and those were some of the initial qualities that I saw that I thought would make her a great partner.”
So, what’s the key to their air-tight union all these years later?
“I let my wife be the woman. You know? I let her be the woman,” Chestnut said in 2013. “And she, in turn, when it comes down to it, she lets me be the man.”
He also noted at that time that while women may see him as a sex symbol, he’s only had eyes for his wife, and he has always made sure she knows that.
“With my wife, I’m always letting her know what the deal is. ‘It’s you. Ain’t nobody else. It’s you,'” he shared. “And I think, conversely, that’s what a woman needs to do for a man.”
He also says having a great amount of respect for one another keeps them solid.
“It takes work. I think one of the main things [is that] we’ve always had a great amount of respect for one another. We’ve always treated each other with respect. No matter how angry we get, we don’t say things we can’t take back. We don’t say hurtful things, and we communicate,” the actor told TODAY with Hoda & Jennain 2022.
“It’s either you grow together, or you grow apart, and you can’t really control that. So we’ve just been really fortunate to grow together and still love and respect each other. She’s not kicking me out the house or making me sleep on the floor. It could come in the next five years! It could come,” he joked.
We love a man who knows and appreciates when he has a good woman! Check out photos of one of our favorite Capricorns (he was born on New Year’s Day!) and his forever love below.
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1990
Morris Chestnut and Pam Byse, United States, circa 1990s. (Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images)
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1993
Pam Byse and Morris Chestnut during “Earth and the American Dream” Premiere at Director’s Guild in West Hollywood, California, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
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1997
Pam Byse and Morris Chestnut during G.I. Jane Premiere at Mann Village Theatre in Westwood, California, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
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1999
Morris Chestnut & Wife during The Best Man Premiere at Cineplex Odeon Century Plaza Cinema in Century City, California, United States. (Photo by SGranitz/WireImage)
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1999
Morris Chestnut and Pam Byse during Special Screening of “The Bone Collector” at Mann’s National Theater in Westwood, California, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
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2001
Morris Chestnut and Pam Byse during Premiere of “The Brothers” at Loews Century Plaza Theater in Century City, California, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
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2001
Morris Chestnut and wife Pamela during Two Can Play That Game Premiere at Cineplex Odeon Century Plaza Cinema in Century City, California, United States. (Photo by Steve Grayson/WireImage)
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2002
Morris Chestnut and wife Pam during The 2nd Annual BET Awards – Arrivals at The Kodak Theater in Hollywood, California, United States. (Photo by SGranitz/WireImage)
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2002
Morris Chestnut & Wife during ‘Like Mike’ Premiere at Bruin Westwood in Westwood, California, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
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2002
CENTURY CITY, CA – NOVEMBER 7: Actor Morris Chestnut (L) and wife Pam attend the Los Angeles premiere of “Half Past Dead” at Loews Century Plaza Cinema on November 7, 2002 in Century City, California. The film opens in theaters nation wide on Friday November 15, 2002. (Photo by Robert Mora/Getty Images)
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2004
Morris Chestnut and wife Pam during “Ladder 49” World Premiere – Arrivals at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California, United States. (Photo by SGranitz/WireImage)
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2007
LOS ANGELES – SEPTEMBER 23: Actor Morris Chestnut (2nd-R) and family attend the premiere of Walt Disney’s “The Game Plan” at the El Capitan Theatre on September 23, 2007 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Noel Vasquez/Getty Images)
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2010
SAN DIEGO – JULY 23: Actor Morris Chestnut (R) and wife Pam Byse attend TV Guide Magazine: The 2010 Hot List during Comic-Con 2010 at San Diego Convention Center on July 23, 2010 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images for TV Guide)
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2011
Actor Morris Chestnut and wife Pamela Chestnut attend Backstage Creations Celebrity Retreat at Shaq’s All-Star Weekend – Day 1 at Nokia Theatre LA Live on February 18, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Mark Sullivan/WireImage)
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2013
Pam Byse and Morris Chestnut at TriStar Pictures World Premiere of ‘The Call’, held at the ArcLight Hollywood on Tuesday, Mar. 5, 2013 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Screen Gems)
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2014
PASADENA, CA – FEBRUARY 22: Actor Morris Chestnut (R) and Pam Byse attend the 45th NAACP Image Awards presented by TV One at Pasadena Civic Auditorium on February 22, 2014 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for NAACP Image Awards)
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2015
Pam Byse-Chestnut and Morris Chestnut (Photo by Michael Buckner/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images)
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2016
PASADENA, CA – FEBRUARY 05: Actor Morris Chestnut (R) and wife Pam Byse attend the 47th NAACP Image Awards at Pasadena Civic Auditorium on February 5, 2016 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)
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2018
NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 13: Pam Byse (L) and Morris Chestnut attend the Lumiere De Vie Hommes Launch Event Aboard Superyacht Utopia IV on October 13, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for Lumiere De Vie Hommes )
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2019
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – DECEMBER 21: Pam Byse and Morris Chestnut attend 36th Annual Atlanta UNCF Mayor’s Masked Ball at Atlanta Marriott Marquis on December 21, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA – MAY 29: Morris Chestnut and Pam Byse-Chestnut attend the 1st Annual “Run For The Rite” Festival And Night Of Southern Rock To Support Veterans at Long Beach Scottish Rite Cultural Centre on May 29, 2021 in Long Beach, California. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images)
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2022
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 23: Morris Chestnut (2nd L), Pam Byse and Paige Chestnut attend a ceremony honoring Morris Chestnut with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 23, 2022 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by JC Olivera/Getty Images)
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2023
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 25: (L-R) Pam Byse and Morris Chestnut arrive to the 54th Annual NAACP Image Awards at Pasadena Civic Auditorium on February 25, 2023 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)