John Legend Reveals the Sentimental Meaning Behind Daughter Esti’s Name
John Legend’s newborn baby’s name turned out to be a happy coincidence. The “All of Me” singer and wife Chrissy Teigen welcomed their third child, daughter Esti Maxine Stephens, on Jan. 13.
And though John exclusively told E! News correspondent Courtney Lopez that the name was Chrissy’s idea, it ended up having a surprising family connection.
As he revealed on the Feb. 1 episode of E! News (airing tonight at 11 p.m.), “It turns out, my great-grandmother was named Esther.”
“It wasn’t intentionally after someone,” John explained, “but once Chrissy told me that idea, I was like, ‘Oh, my great-grandmother’s name was Esther.'”
Esti’s middle name also shares ties to another one of John’s relatives. “We wanted to already name her middle name Maxine after my grandmother, whose middle name was Maxine,” the 44-year-old shared. “So, it’s a lot of my family in the name.”
John and Chrissy—who also share daughter Luna, 6, and son Miles, 4—announced they were expecting baby No. 3 in August 2022, two years after Chrissy experienced a pregnancy loss in October 2021.
“The last few years have been a blur of emotions to say the least, but joy has filled our home and hearts again,” Chrissy wrote on Instagram Aug. 3. Addressing her IVF journey, the star added, “1 billion shots later (in the leg lately, as u can see!) we have another on the way.”
And a couple of days after becoming a family of five, the proud parents announced the name and sex of their new bundle of joy on Jan. 19. Posting a photo of her three kids together on Instagram, Chrissy wrote, “She’s here! Esti Maxine Stephens – the house is bustling and our family could not be happier.”
“Daddy shed nightly tears of joy seeing Luna and Miles so full of love, and I am learning you still need diapers with a c-section!?” Chrissy continued. “We are in bliss. Thank you for all the love and well wishes – we feel it all!”
On top of being a new dad, John also just launched his brand-new, unisex skincare line Loved01. And, as The Voice coach detailed to E! News, creating a skincare line for people of colour has become his new passion project.
“Far too often, those skin types are ignored or understudied, under-researched when it comes to developing and formulating skincare products,” he said of his new business. “And so, we all felt that was a gap that needed to be addressed and that we could create a new product whose mission was to address that gap and to do it in a way that was really accessible and affordable for people.”
John’s unisex skincare line Loved01 (@loved01skin) is available now on Loved01.com and at CVS stores nationwide and CVS.com.