The 'Little Mermaid' star announced the birth of her son with media personality DDG on Saturday.
Two years after they first sparked rumors of a romance, Halle Bailey and her boyfriend, rapper Darryl Dwayne Granberry Jr., aka DDG, have announced the birth of their first child!
The Little Mermaid star, 23, revealed the birth of her first child, a son, on Jan. 6, confirming longtime speculation that she was pregnant and giving her fans their first proper look at her son with the popular YouTuber, whom they named Halo.
DDG, 26, is best known for kicking off his YouTube channel in 2014 before beginning to make music in 2016. He signed with Epic Records in 2018 and founded his own record label, Zooted Music, with longtime managers Eric O'Connor and Dimitri Hurt in 2020.
Halle and DDG, who's also known as PontiacMadeDDG, first sparked romance rumors in January 2022 and confirmed their relationship two months later. Since going public, their relationship has come under scrutiny and has been the subject of rumors and breakup speculation. Despite the drama, the couple has openly praised one another in interviews and shared affectionate videos on social media.
When asked about her beau by ET at the launch of the Pandora's Lab Grown Diamond District for New York Fashion Week in September, the GRAMMY nominee gushed that "there's lots of things [about DDG] that make me so happy."
"I think what's really cool about love and being young is that you could just live and have a good time," she said. "But, my personal life is something I keep sacred."
Follow along as ET goes through the couple's relationship timeline for everything you need to know about Halle and DDG.
January 2022
Speculation of a relationship between Halle and DDG began when the duo was spotted together attending Usher's My Way Las Vegas residency on New Year's Day. Footage taken of them by other concertgoers began circulating online, showing Halle talking to DDG excitedly, seeming to exclaim, "Oh my god!" about the show onstage, as DDG drinks a beverage.
Later that night, Usher shared photos with the new couple on his Instagram Stories, in which Halle and DDG pose with their arms around one another.
March 2022
The couple's relationship was made official when DDG gave the singer a sweet shout-out on Instagram for her 22nd birthday. "Happy Birthday to the beautifulest, the flyest, the sweetest ❤️Love you forever 🥺💎," he captioned the since-deleted post, according to Complex.
The post featured a carousel of photos and videos of them together, including one that showed DDG placing a large studded necklace bearing 'HALLE' on her neck.
Halle responded to the post in the comments, writing, "u will make me cry again."
Her sister, Chlöe, dropped some heart emojis in the comment section, as well.
June 2022
The couple made their red carpet debut at the BET Awards, where Chlöe performed.
The same month, the singer shared a video to TikTok showing her and DDG's "singing lessons." It was the first time the rapper was featured on her social media page.
August 2022
In an interview with Essence, Halle shared she was familiar with DDG from his YouTube days and was "a fan of his for years."
"I grew up being on YouTube and would always see the young Black creators and was constantly inspired by them," she recalled. "He was one of them."
Halle told the outlet that she stumbled across his online videos in 2015. "I completely forgot about him," Halle continued. "But then I saw that he was dropping music, and I really gravitated toward this one song. Coincidentally he messaged me--and the rest is history."
The singer revealed that DDG reached out to her via her Instagram DMs, sharing, "I saw that he was dropping music, and I really gravitated toward this one song. Coincidentally he messaged me -- and the rest is history."
When asked if she was in love, she said, "Yes. For sure I am."
That same month, DDG released the music video for his song, "If I Want You," starring his girlfriend. A majority of the intimate video features the couple locking eyes and embracing, the first of their official collaborations together.
October 2022
Halle continued the couple's tradition of sharing sweet birthday messages by posting one when DDG turned 25.
The singer posted a compilation video of the couple's adventures and dates together, writing the caption, "Happy happy birthday @ddg ♥️love you forever."
February 2023
In February, social media drama between DDG and his ex-girlfriend, Rubi Rose, made headlines when the latter called out Halle wearing a shirt design Rubi was previously spotted in back in 2020.
DDG and Rose engaged in a back-and-forth on Twitter in now-deleted tweets, which included Rubi posting a screenshot of alleged DMs with DDG, in which he seemed to be trying to meet up while dating Halle.
DDG seemingly added fuel to the drama by temporarily unfollowing Halle and sharing a since-deleted tweet reading, "All these girls the same, ain't no way."
He went on to claim Rubi's screenshot wasn't real, at one point calling her "a wannabe Ice Spice," and writing, "nobody cheated on nobody btw. don't take my tweets too serious."
Halle chimed in, writing in a since-deleted tweet, "[The] devil is working. lol please don't feed into the lies, especially from a third party. stay blessed everyone."
The couple dismissed the speculation when they were later spotted in Paris together and at the Vanity Fair Oscar party together in March.
April 2023
Speaking to British Vogue, the singer shared that it was difficult navigating their relationship with her rising stardom from The Little Mermaid casting. "There's a lot of eyes on me now, especially with what's to come," she said at the time. "And sometimes I wish I didn't have so many eyes on me, especially experiencing something like this for the first time."
"Experiencing deep love for the first time in my life is something I feel has opened a whole new world for me creatively," she said of her relationship with DDG. "What it feels like to love someone other than your family, like somebody you may not have known two years ago but now they're the center of your world."
She added, "I like all of the scary feelings that come with that. I like the suspense, the not knowing what's going to happen, and I feel like that's what I'm supposed to be going through in womanhood."
May 2023
Rumors of a breakup were sparked when fans claimed to expose DDG's alleged "burner" account, which was responding negatively to tweets about Halle and her Little Mermaid co-star, Jonah Hauer-King, who stars as Prince Eric in the live-action adaptation.
Fans then discovered that both parties don't follow one another on Twitter or Instagram, and the rapper scrubbed his Instagram account clean of Halle's existence after DDG deleted a tweet praising The Little Mermaid that Halle quote tweeted.
The rumors resulted in the Twitter blog The Pop Tingz sharing a report about the couple's speculated split, taking a dig at the Michigan-born personality by describing him as an "E-list rapper."
While neither star publicly addressed the rumors outright -- although the rapper made a TikTok video on how "people" want him to react -- the two seemingly have no hard feelings. DDG showed support for the actress during a live stream, where he watched Halle's live performance of The Little Mermaid's "Part of Your World" during an episode of American Idol.
In a video of the live stream, DDG sings along to the lyrics and does his best to match Halle's vocal runs.
Later that month, in conversation with Glamour for their cover story, the singer shared how she strives to ensure the attention doesn't overwhelm her.
"Mentally, sometimes it's really difficult being in this industry," she told the outlet, "knowing that there are so many opinions [about] you and what you're doing, or what you should be or what you could be doing better. People sometimes put you on this pedestal. They forget that you're a real human being. They forget that you have feelings, that you cry."
This is especially true when it comes to her private life. "It's really funny how people look at you [as] still being this young girl, still being this innocent, untouchable thing," Halle said.
"I appreciate that as I venture into adulthood, I'm able to make my own decisions." And when it comes to the details of her personal life, one of those decisions is discretion. "For my peace and my sanity, I have to keep that private," she added.
It was clear that the actress wasn't going to let rumors bring her down. As The Little Mermaid hit theaters, the star took to TikTok to share a video of her jumping into DDG's arms and giving him a kiss.
Halle set the video, which she posted in celebration of the end of her Little Mermaid press tour, to a remixed clip of Beyoncé singing, "I am going to see my husband / I'm happy, I'm happy, to see my husband."
"On my last day of press like..." she wrote alongside the clip, adding laughing and winking emojis.
July 2023
The rapper immediately faced criticism after dropping his song, "Famous," in July. In the song, DDG raps about his own insecurities while in a relationship with a high-profile woman, appearing to shame Halle over "kissing" and "holding hands" with a co-star while filming.
"Hardest thing I did was fall in love with a famous b***h," he spits.
The lyrics continue: "Sometimes I feel so defeated, broken hearts repeated / Said 'I love you,' did you mean it? Why don't I believe it? / I'm trynna figure out what we gon' do / How we gonna get to the top? / Filming a movie now you kissing dudes / You know I love you a lot / I don't give a f**k if that s**t for promo / I don't want to see this s**t no more / Why is you holding hands in the photo? You know I'm insecure, that's a no-no."
Notably, Halle was photographed holding hands with her Little Mermaid co-star, Jonah Hauer-King, on the red carpet at the London premiere of their film back in May. The pair's close friendship was highlighted during their promotional tour of the film and made waves with fans who praised their chemistry on social media.
Later in the song, DDG doubles down on the insecurity and doubts in the relationship.
"I been so insecure that I be thinkin' you really be f****n' n****s you in movies with / But on the internet, I just be coolin' it, but in my head, a n***a really losin' it," he raps. "Gotta be payin' good 'cause you keep doin' it / I might just tweet somethin' just to ruin it / I got a platform, I'm abusin' it / It's a couple things about your job I wanna know / When you shoot your movie, do these n****s turn you on? / When you leave the set, do y'all still text each other phone? / Just because they filmin' it, it don't mean that it ain't wrong."
The artist grapples with the attention he says his girlfriend receives from other men in real life, saying he wants to leave her but is "too attached" and calling her "the girl that I claim."
Halle's fans wasted no time taking to Twitter to roast the musician as "the worst boyfriend ever."
The song's release caused fans to recall when users claimed to expose DDG's alleged "burner" account, which was responding negatively to tweets about Halle and Hauer-King.
August 2023
In August, rumors began circulating that Halle was pregnant after she seemingly appeared in the background of DDG's Instagram Live with a noticeably pregnant belly, according to XXL.
Fans began to reshare snapshots of the video, speculating that the couple could be expecting their first child together.
The mounting rumors and commentary around Halle prompted Chlöe to respond on social media. "Y'all better keep my sister's name out your mouth, thank you," she warned during an Instagram Live.
September 2023
In an interview for Cosmopolitan's STYLE issue, Halle confessed that her relationship with DDG is more than just puppy love for her.
"All musical inspiration really just comes from life experiences. Love has been a really big one for me too, because that's something I'm experiencing for the first time, and it's, like, 'whoa' in your brain. It's just fireworks, a spark for creativity. You know, you have puppy love experiences, you think that's love. But this is my first deep, deep, real love," she told the magazine.
"I just live my life the way I want to live it and turn off my phone if I don't like what people are saying online," she added. "But I also do think what I'm going through as a young woman right now, it's really good fuel for me creatively. So I focus on putting whatever life experience I'm going through in the art that I'm creating."
That same month, The Color Purple star spoke with ET at the launch of the Pandora's Lab Grown Diamond District during New York Fashion Week, where she chatted about the joys of being in love as a young woman.
Halle wasn't interested in addressing the public's opinions on her relationship with the media personality and rapper. When asked about her beau, she gushed that "there's lots of things [about DDG] that make me so happy."
"I think what's really cool about love and being young is that you could just live and have a good time," she said. "But, my personal life is something I keep sacred."
December 2023
Amid the mounting pregnancy rumors, DDG took to social media to show the expensive gifts he bought for the singer on Christmas. The media personality shared clips of the singer unwrapping her presents on Snapchat, saying he spent "spent $500,000 on Christmas."
Among the gifts shown, Halle unveiled a Hermès Birkin bag, a yellow gold Tiffany & Co. HardWear bracelet, and a pair of Balenciaga snow boots and pants.
"I can't believe you got this," she gushed in the clip. "This is the one we tried on [at the store] just to play and just to pretend."
The actress also showed off the gifts she purchased for her boyfriend, gifting him with a pair of two-carat diamond stud earrings.
January 2024
On Saturday, Halle shared the news that she and DDG welcomed a son together.
"Even though we’re a few days into the new year, the greatest thing that 2023 could have done for me, was bring me my son," Halle wrote on Instagram, sharing a photo of the newborn's hand wearing a gold nameplate bracelet. "Welcome to the world my halo 🥰👼🏽 ✨the world is desperate to know you 😉🤣♥️"
On his page, DDG shared the same image with the caption, "my biggest blessing by far 👶🏽❤️ son son.. never been so in love 🥹 baby halo."
He also added the post to his Instagram story with the note, "The flyest kid in the universe has arrived."
And just a few days after his birth, the baby boy made his debut in the music world in style. DDG gave Halo a sweet shoutout in a new song shared on his YouTube page the same day his parents announced his arrival.
In the song, titled "Darryl Freestyle," the Michigan-born musician namedrops his little one and shouts out his girlfriend of roughly two years.
"Silver Spoon kid / I know Halo don't want for nothing," DDG raps in the song. "He crying / His mama coming / She's stronger than Wonder Woman."
The video also shows a clip of the rapper cradling a baby toward the end of the song. Furthermore, the rapper's Soundcloud upload of the song features a photo of a baby's face as the cover artwork, although it's unclear if the child in the picture is the newborn.
Another Halle and DDG collaboration for the win!
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