Amber Heard secretly welcomed her first child

Amber Heard is a mom. The 35-year-old Aquaman star took to Instagram to make the big announcement on July 1, revealing that she had a baby girl via surrogate back in April.

“I’m so excited to share this news with you. Four years ago, I decided I wanted to have a child. I wanted to do it on my own terms,” Heard wrote.  “I now appreciate how radical it is for us as women to think about one of the most fundamental parts of our destinies in this way. I hope we arrive at a point in which it’s normalized to not want a ring in order to have a crib,” she continued.

“A part of me wants to uphold that my private life is none of anyone’s business. I also get that the nature of my job compels me to take control of this. My daughter was born on April 8, 2021. Her name is Oonagh Paige Heard. She’s the beginning of the rest of my life.”

Heard’s celebrity friends immediately jumped into the comments with their congratulations and well-wishes. Her Aquaman co-star, Jason Momoa, wrote a “congratulations” with a heart emoji, Andie MacDowell wrote, “Congratulations it’s absolutely the best part of life,” and on Twitter, where Heard also shared the news, Kathy Griffin added, “Congratulations Amber! So happy for you!”

Heard named the baby after her late mother, Page, who passed away in May 2020. And Oonagh is a Greek, Scottish and Irish name that means “pure, holy.” Which, if you think about it, is the perfect way o describe any baby.

Heard has been in the spotlight a lot over the past couple of years given her very public divorce from Johnny Depp and the ongoing court battles involving the two. (Depp lost a libel case against a British newspaper last year for calling him a wife beater, and he is currently suing Heard for $50 million over an essay she wrote about domestic violence.) So fans can understand why Heard might want to take control of the narrative surrounding her family.

Although Heard and Depp were only married for a little over a year (February 2015 to May 2016), during that time she spoke about becoming a stepmother to Depp’s now-adult children, Lily-Rose and Jack, whom Depp shares with ex-partner Vanessa Paradis.

“It’s an honour and the greatest, most surprising gift I have ever received in my life,” she told Marie Claire at the time. “I feel new flavours that I didn’t know existed. New colours that I didn’t know existed have been added to my life. I’m so happy.”

Since her divorce, Heard has been linked to a few different people, including Elon Musk, art dealer Vito Schnabel and director Andy Muschietti. Most recently she began dating cinematographer Bianca Butti.

“Bianca has been very supportive of her, and Amber feels like she can trust her and be comfortable around her, especially since they were friends first,” a source told Us Weekly back in February 2020. “Amber is fine and happier than ever. She really loves her.”

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[video_embed id='2232590']BEFORE YOU GO: Gal Gadot gives birth to third child[/video_embed]