American Idol finalist Emmy Russell, who is the granddaughter of late country legend Loretta Lynn, is going to be a mom!
“Y’all, me and Tyler [Ward] are expecting a baby girl,” Russell, 25, said during a recent taping of the “Got it From My Momma” podcast. “I’m so excited.”
Ward, 40, immediately ran up on stage to rub Russell’s belly before taking his seat in the crowd.
“Right out of American Idol, I didn’t know,” Russell, who was a finalist on season 22, said. “So, that’s kind of been the journey. I’m so excited and looking forward to it.”
Russell was joined by her mother, Patsy, on the episode, who also teased her reaction to her daughter’s pregnancy news.
“I always said it’s ‘Emmy and Tyler that’s having a baby’ because they’re both having to go through [it],” Patsy said. “It’s so true. I keep sending Tyler the memes of these girls going, ‘I can’t wear anything, I’m fat.’”
While Russell and Ward have not publicized most of their relationship, he was instrumental in her Idol journey.
“I do feel that distinct voice of, ‘You do have a job to do,’ and I think it was also just so out there. I was so tired of listening to that inner voice critiquing ourselves all the time,” Russell, who tried out for the singing competition without informing her mother, explained. “I was just like, ‘I want to prove everyone wrong.’ … Everyone was like, ‘She’s probably not going to do it.”
She added, “I remember just even looking at Tyler and I was just, like, ‘I’m going to do this and I’m not going to hide anymore.’ I remember when MeeMaw passed away and we got to just be alone with her, I remember holding her hand, just like, ‘I don’t know how I’m gonna do it, but I’m gonna do something with my gift.’ It was almost like a scary praise that I was making.”
Russell then remembered that Lynn used to tell her, “God, doesn’t give a plumber tools to not use them.” (Lynn died in 2022 at the age of 90.)
“She always used to say, ‘He gave you a gift. You gotta use it.’ And so, I’m navigating that and I’m still navigating it today, but I knew that might be the place to do it.”
Russell auditioned for Idol with a piano rendition of an original song titled “Skinny,” which was a collaboration with Ward.
“I released that song with Song House, and Tyler actually runs Song House,” she said. He was like, ‘You gotta do it. We just got to release the song.’ Then, seeing all the feedback of it, I was like, ‘This is bigger than me. I need to get out of the way.’ … Releasing it [was] special.”
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