Jamie, 37, and Sophie, 31, famously met while starring in Made in Chelsea, and later started dating in 2019. After marrying in 2023, hosting celebrations in both London and Sotogrande, Spain, they welcomed Ziggy, their first child, last December, naming him after the Six Senses Zighy Bay resort in Oman, where he was conceived.
They knew Ziggy’s gender from the start. “We found out straight away,” Sophie says. “We would have been happy with either, but were so excited to have a boy. He’s the first boy in my family. I just have a sister, and my dad only had sisters, so it was really exciting for my dad.”
“I knew it was a boy,” Jamie says. “When Sophie fell pregnant, I said, ‘I can feel it’s a boy.'” They even had a near-accurate birth date prediction from the King himself after meeting him at a King’s Trust event at Buckingham Palace.
“He was so lovely,” Sophie says. “Ziggy was in my tummy and he was trying to guess Ziggy’s birthday. He thought Ziggy would be born in November, which was not too far off.”
Though they’re in a tough patch now with Ziggy’s chickenpox, the couple would love to have more children. “Lots and lots!” Sophie says. “Jamie comes from a really big family. I want to have more and grow the family.”
Entrepreneurial couple
Jamie, who is the great-great-grandson of Sir Alexander Grant, 1st Baronet – the creator of the McVitie’s digestive biscuit in 1892 – is also the co-founder of the popular vegan sweet brand Candy Kittens, which he launched in 2012 with his friend Ed Williams.
He’s clearly inherited the family business acumen – Jamie also hosts several podcasts, including NewlyParents, which he co-hosts with Sophie, and Great Company with Jamie Laing.
Sophie, meanwhile, co-hosts the podcast Wednesdays with her former Made in Chelsea co-star Melissa Tattam and also runs JamPot Productions, a media production company, with Jamie; they were both executive producers on their recent three-part documentary Raising Chelsea, which aired on Disney+ in April, following the couple as they navigated becoming first-time parents.
It’s a journey that still has its challenges, Jamie says, referring to a parenting blunder the previous night.
“I made a huge error because I was so tired,” says Jamie, who is speaking from the Candy Kittens headquarters in Marylebone. “I forgot to put his nappy on [when] putting him to bed, and then half an hour later he was crying. I was like, ‘Why is he crying?’ and he’d peed himself. I’m feeling so guilty today about it. How can I forget to put his nappy on? What is wrong with me?”
© Getty Images for EmiratesThe baby bubble
Despite this, the couple are enjoying every second of being new parents. “We’re loving it,” says Sophie, who joins our video call from home. “It’s exhausting, but the best thing ever, so rewarding. The love is nothing you’ve felt before.”
“It is honestly the most wonderful thing,” Jamie says. “We’re a really good tag team, but I think mums are just incredible.”
Sophie adds: “No, we’re a real team. Jamie’s so great – he’s got unlimited energy, so he’s been useful at night because I love my sleep. Jamie manages to live off about two hours. He’s so helpful, so present, such a great dad.”
The pair get along well, despite being known for their hilarious disagreements on their podcast. “We’re best friends and we bicker, but it’s harmless,” Sophie says. “I think people forget Sophie and I were such close friends before,” Jamie says. “Our relationship has never changed.”
Ziggy wakes up from his nap and Sophie brings him on camera. She’s clearly besotted. “I feel like he’s going to be a mini Jamie,” she says. “He’s very energetic, so loving, quite needy, loves his mum and is a really happy, lovely boy.”
© Dave Benett/WireImageTough early days of parenthood
Every new parent experiences high and lows in those early weeks, and Sophie and Jamie were the same. For Sophie, her highest point was being handed Ziggy following her emergency C-section. “It was truly the best moment of my life,” she says.
The early days were a struggle, she admits. “I had him in the depths of winter, and it rained every single day, so I had a bit of cabin fever one month in,” she says. “I was so tired and I couldn’t leave the house because it was pouring.”
Now, she’s relishing her little boy. “He laughs and smiles and lights up when you walk in a room. He’s now saying ‘Mama’. Those things are incredible.”
Jamie also found the process of becoming a father difficult to navigate in the beginning. “I think what people don’t talk about, especially for men, guys become super protective straight away,” he says. “There was a moment at about 3am, he was so little, and I was rocking him. I put him down, and I looked at him and he sort of smiled at me. I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s my baby.’ That was a pretty amazing moment.”
Now, he says, “My thought process is, ‘Ziggy, Ziggy, Ziggy.’ Now that little man is at the forefront of my mind. The tricky thing at the beginning is adjusting yourself to the new life.”
First night away from Ziggy
The couple went on their first mini-break away from Ziggy to Paris in July, which was heart-wrenching but provided some much-needed time together as a couple. “I cried leaving him, but he was fine,” Sophie says. “He had a sleepover and he had the best time, and we had the best time.”
They teamed up with GetYourGuide, an online travel planning platform, for their Paris trip. The platform is championing the nation’s unsung Holiday Heroes this summer – friends, partners and family members who do all the holiday planning.
“Sophie and I were having this battle [about] who the holiday hero is. We finally settled on me,” says Jamie, who planned a pastry masterclass through GetYourGuide to make tarte Tatin with a Parisian grandmother. “It was a really fun day.”
They have some “exciting things” coming up at the beginning of January workwise, but their lips are sealed. Jamie would love to host the Academy Awards, while the Met Gala is Sophie’s ideal gig. “To talk about all the outfits, that would be the dream,” she says, noting that she adores the label Yves Saint Laurent. “It’s so simple but unbelievable.”
The future is bright for this family. “We’re building up JamPot, our media company together, and focusing on being the best parents possible,” Jamie says. “We get to travel the world together, work together and experience life together, and that is the most amazing thing.”
Jamie might be Sophie’s Holiday Hero, but who’s yours? Head to @GetYourGuide’s Instagram account for a chance to win £5,000 in experiences.
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