Nic Collins and Lily Collins Courtesy of Lily Collins/Instagram
Drummer Nic Collins is ready to conquer the role of uncle to sister Lily Collins’ newborn daughter.
“Welcome to the world, Tove,” Nic, 23, wrote via Instagram Story on Friday, January 31. “[I’m] already so proud to be your uncle.”
He added, “Congratulations @lilyjcollins & @charliemcdowell. Love you, guys.”
Grammy winner Phil Collins is a father of five — he shares children Joely and Simon with Andrea Bertorelli, daughter Lily with Jill Tavelman and sons Nic and Matthew with Orianne Cevey.
Phil, 74, recently became a grandfather for the second time — daughter Joely became a parent in 2009 — after Lily, 35, and husband Charlie McDowell welcomed daughter Tove Jane via surrogate.
“Welcome to the center of our world,” the Emily in Paris star and McDowell, 41, captioned a joint Instagram announcement on Friday. “Words will never express our endless gratitude for our incredible surrogate and everyone who helped us along the way. We love you to the moon and back again.”
The new parents also uploaded a photo of the infant wearing a personalized sweater while sleeping in a bassinet.
Nic Collins and Lily Collins Courtesy of Lily Collins/Instagram
Hours later, McDowell defended the couple’s decision to welcome their first baby via gestational carrier.
“Thank you for all the kind messages and love. We are overjoyed and very grateful,” the director wrote via Instagram comment. “In regards to the unkind messages about surrogacy and our path to having a baby — it’s OK to not be an expert on surrogacy.”
McDowell continued, “It’s OK to not know why someone might need a surrogate to have a child. It’s OK to not know the motivations of a surrogate regardless of what you assume. And it’s OK to spend less time spewing hateful words into the world, especially in regards to a beautiful baby girl who has brought a lot of love into people’s lives. That’s all for now because she just pooped and I need to change her diaper.”
Lily and McDowell, the son of actress Mary Steenburgen, have been together since 2019. They tied the knot in September 2021. McDowell also directed Lily in 2022’s Windfall.
“Weirdly, there were moments when I forgot that we were together because the way in which he directs, he such a communicative and collaborative director that is all about how the actor feels and grounding it in truth and someone that you feel very safe with [and] in an environment where you’re the most vulnerable,” she said on CBS Mornings in March 2022. “That’s what you want in a life partner and it is what you want as an actor in your director.”
Lily continued at the time, “He treats everyone the same, and there were very few of us in the cast so we all had a very intimate, collaborative experience that sometimes I would forget that it was my Charlie as opposed to Charlie-my-director. It was so fun.”
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