The Moment
File this under: time is a flat circle. Emily Maynard, the former Bachelor and Bachelorette lead many of us watched while folding laundry in 2011 and 2012, is now a grandmother at 39.
Her 20-year-old daughter, Ricki Hendrick, quietly welcomed her first child and then shared the news on Instagram, posting black and white photos from the hospital. One shot shows a medical professional cradling the swaddled newborn near Ricki’s head as she rests in bed; another shows Emily’s husband, Tyler Johnson, holding the baby while Emily gently touches the little one’s arm.
Emily and Tyler later posted a joint Instagram update of their own, proudly holding the baby and writing, “We became grandparents today!! The feeling is inexpressible. This is love”, along with a Bible verse from 1 John 4:7-11. Ricki called it the “best day ever” in her caption.
The new arrival comes after Ricki announced her pregnancy on social media last August with an ultrasound photo and a jokey update about how her baby girl already seemed to hate all food. Fans have essentially watched this play out in real time through their feeds.
Because Emily is very open about her Christian faith, one follower asked the question a lot of people were whispering: what does the family think about Ricki having a baby outside of marriage? Ricki shared the question, and Emily popped up in a video with full sarcasm mode activated: “Very against it. I cannot believe anybody would ever do that. Unforgivable,” she deadpanned, before Ricki panned over to all the baby gifts her mom had already bought.
The two kept the bit going, joking that Emily was “pissed” and could not even look at her daughter, while clearly doing the exact opposite: showing support, excitement, and a fully stocked nursery haul.
The Take
I will absolutely be thinking about “39-year-old grandma” every time I book a facial from now on.
There are really two stories here. One is the headline-friendly shock of a reality star becoming a grandmother before 40. The other is quieter but more interesting: a very public, very Christian woman choosing grace over judgment when her daughter has a baby at 20 and not in the order some churches would prefer.
Bachelorette star Emily Maynard becomes a grandmother at age 39 as daughter Ricki, 20, welcomes baby
👉 https://t.co/Lo1pOv4Gnl#Trending #Age #Baby #Bachelorette #dailymail #Daughter #Emily #grandmother #Instagram #Maynard #Ricki #Star #TheBachelor …https://t.co/Lo1pOv4Gnl pic.twitter.com/1XNOQyBJuF
— Dorothy Dow (@DorothyDow17) January 24, 2026
We watched Emily as the soft-spoken Southern single mom on The Bachelor, the one producers framed as the wholesome widow with a tragic past. Now that same woman is laughing on camera about an out-of-wedlock grandbaby while simultaneously quoting scripture about love. That is not nothing.
In a lot of religious spaces, this is exactly where things go sideways: a young pregnancy, an unmarried couple, and suddenly the family meeting feels like a courtroom. Instead, Emily does what a lot of parents say they would do but struggle to execute. She leans fully into being a doting “glam-ma” and lets the joke carry the tension. It is like a rose ceremony for real life: people at home have opinions, but only the people standing there actually have to live with the choice.
Also, let us be honest, the generational math is not that wild when you slow down. Emily had Ricki at 19. Ricki is now 20. That is just two generations of teen or very-young motherhood. Plenty of families outside of Instagram live this timeline quietly every day; it just feels more dramatic when there are professional photos, perfect lashes, and a Bachelor fan base remembering where they were in 2012.
The bigger cultural shift is in how it is being framed. Ten or fifteen years ago, the coverage might have leaned heavy on shame or “controversy.” Now the story is more: look at this tight-knit, slightly chaotic, deeply online family making room for another baby and laughing through the awkward parts. That is progress, even if you still personally prefer the old-school order of diploma, ring, then diapers.
Receipts
Confirmed
- Emily Maynard is 39 years old and now a grandmother; her daughter Ricki, 20, has welcomed her first child, as shown in hospital photos shared on Ricki’s and Emily’s Instagram accounts in January 2026.
- In a joint Instagram post, Emily and husband Tyler Johnson wrote, “We became grandparents today!! The feeling is inexpressible. This is love,” and included the Bible passage 1 John 4:7-11.
- Ricki previously announced her pregnancy on social media in August with an ultrasound picture and confirmed she was expecting a baby girl.
- Emily has publicly identified as a Christian and joked in a video, in response to a fan question about a baby outside marriage, that she was “very against it” and that such a thing was “unforgivable,” while clearly making light of the idea and surrounding her daughter with support and baby gifts.
- Emily shares five younger children with Tyler Johnson and has long described Ricki as her first child and only child with her late fiancé, NASCAR driver Ricky Hendrick, who died in a plane crash in 2004.
Unverified / reported
- Some online reports and photo tags suggest the baby’s father is a young man in Ricki’s circle, but the family has not issued any formal statement confirming his identity, and he does not appear to be seeking the spotlight.
- Exact details of the baby’s birth date and name have not been publicly confirmed by Emily or Ricki in on-the-record statements at the time of writing.
Sources: Public Instagram posts and videos from Emily Maynard and Ricki Hendrick (January 2026); prior online entertainment coverage of Ricki’s August pregnancy announcement; a January 24, 2026 celebrity news report summarizing the birth and family reaction.
Backstory (For Casual Readers)
If you have not checked in on Bachelor Nation since flip phones, here is the quick catch-up: Emily first appeared on The Bachelor in 2011, where she got engaged to Brad Womack before they split. She then led The Bachelorette in 2012 and got engaged to Jef Holm; that engagement also ended. Long before reality TV, Emily lost her fiance Ricky Hendrick in a 2004 plane crash and later discovered she was pregnant with their daughter, Ricki, whom she had at 19. In 2014, Emily married Tyler Johnson, and together they now have five younger children in addition to Ricki.
What’s Next
In the near term, expect a lot more soft-focus baby content and chaotic family snapshots. This is a household with six kids before you add a granddaughter, and Bachelor alums are basically professional documentarians of their own lives at this point.
What I will be watching is not a spin-off show but the conversation this stirs up among fans. Emily has long had a following of women who relate to her mix of faith, heartbreak, and second (and third) chances at love. Seeing her model support for a 20-year-old new mom, without the side of public shaming many people fear, may quietly give other families permission to do the same.
There is also the nostalgia factor. For viewers who met Emily when Ricki was the tiny girl she talked about over candlelit dates, there is something full-circle about seeing that little girl now cradling a baby of her own. It is a reminder that our TV characters keep aging, even when the reruns do not.
Will Emily lean into the “young glam-ma” identity with branded content, or keep this mostly family-only with the occasional soft reveal? Given how carefully she has curated her life over the years, I would bet on selective sharing: just enough to let fans celebrate with her, not enough to turn a newborn into a storyline.
Either way, the message she is putting out so far is simple and surprisingly mature for reality TV alumni: you can hold your values and still show up with love when life does not follow the script. That may be the most grown-up glow-up of all.
If your own 20-year-old told you they were having a baby, what kind of response would you hope to offer in that moment?
Comments