Halle Bailey welcomes baby: What to know about boyfriend DDG

A baby boy is now part of Halle Bailey’s world.

The “Little Mermaid” star announced the birth of her first child with boyfriend and YouTube creator DDG in an Instagram post shared Saturday.

“even though we’re a few days into the new year, the greatest thing that 2023 could have done for me, was bring me my son.. welcome to the world my halo 🥰👼🏽 ✨,”Bailey captioned the photo of her holding her baby’s hand as the child wore a gold bracelet that reads “HALO.” She continued, “the world is desperate to know you 😉🤣♥️.”

The 23-year-old singer first sparked pregnancy speculation in September at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, where she and sister Chloe Bailey served as presenters. Sources told Page Six that the singer-actor “stayed away from the pink carpet so she would not be photographed.”

“When she was inside, she was very mindful in the way she gave hugs, and who she gave them to,” Page Six reported.

Bailey welcomed her child more than a year after she and DDG, 26, officially became a couple in 2022. Since then, they have gone through a lot — from making a Fashion Week debut to facing backlash over DDG’s rap career.

Here’s all we know about the first-time parents’ relationship.

Who is DDG?

DDG, born Darryl Dwayne Granberry Jr., is a 26-year-old YouTube content creator who was raised in Pontiac, Mich. He began his YouTube career in 2014, gaining a following for his personal vlogs and prank videos.

After dropping out of Central Michigan University during his sophomore year, DDG turned his attention to rapping and songwriting. He dropped his first single, “Balenciaga,” in 2016. Two years later, he released his first album, “Take Me Serious.”

“It’s harder to come from YouTube to be like an artist, it’s kind of unheard of, to be real,” he told YouTube interviewer DJVlad in 2018.

So DDG took his music career into his own hands, founding his Zooted Music record label in 2020, Forbes reported. In recent years, the YouTube star-turned-rapper also gained more ground in the rap space, partnering with more established names including Blueface, Lil Yachty and Gunna.

In 2023, DDG earned a spot on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 music list.

How did DDG meet Halle Bailey?

Halle Bailey, who makes up the R&B duo Chloe x Halle with big sister Chloe, told Essence in August 2022 that she first noticed DDG in 2015.

“I grew up being on YouTube and would always see the young Black creators and was constantly inspired by them,” she told the magazine. “He was one of them.”

As Halle’s music and acting careers flourished, she said, she “completely forgot” about the young rapper — until he began putting out music. The “Do It” artist said her relationship with DDG began with a couple of private messages.

Halle and DDG first sparked dating rumors in January 2022, then made their red-carpet debut at the 2022 BET Awards later that year. Since then, they have shared their romance on social media and at public events including Gucci’s Milan Fashion Week show in September.

When Essence asked in 2022 whether Halle was in love with the rapper, she said, “Yes. For sure I am.”

DDG caught heat from Halle’s big sis Ski Bailey

In February, things seemed rocky for Halle and DDG. Breakup rumors surfaced when fans noticed that the rapper had unfollowed Halle and deleted pictures of her from his Instagram account. He also said in a since-deleted tweet, “All these girls the same ain’t no wayy.”

After catching heat, DDG tweeted, “The internet so gullible.”

Amid the split speculation, Halle’s older sister Ski reportedly slammed DDG for his cryptic tweet. “Halle’s not like the ones that you’ve been with. You will not treat her the way you’ve treated these others,” she said in a since-expired Instagram story.

“You’re not gonna try to come to social media and put her on blast, and insinuate or put out something making it seem like she was doing something she wasn’t doing,” she continued. “You need to pipe down.”

Shortly after her comments spread, Ski walked back her video, reportedly posting a statement about her sister’s relationship with DDG on her Instagram story. In the since-deleted post, Ski said “nothing going on” between Halle and DDG.

Three months after the breakup speculation, Halle confirmed in a TikTok that she was still with her boyfriend. The clip, set to a remix of Beyoncé saying “I am on to see my husband,” saw the Disney star jumping with joy to see DDG and kissing him.

What’s the ‘Famous’ drama?

Halle and DDG‘s relationship was going swimmingly — then the rapper dropped “Famous.” Just months after Halle’s live-action “The Little Mermaid” premiered in May 2023, DDG seemingly channeled the movie buzz for his controversial song.

In the explicit song, DDG raps, “Hardest things I did was fall in love with a famous b—.” If that wasn’t enough of a nod to his girlfriend, DDG’s lyrics also seemingly hint at Halle’s Ariel falling for co-star Jonah Hauer-King’s Prince Eric (“Filmin’ a movie now you kissing dudes”) and their time on the press tour (“Why is y’all holdin’ hands in the photo?”).

DDG, and his relationship with Bailey, quickly drew criticism online. One X user slammed DDG and his “embarrassing antics,” while another said “the whole song is the nastiest thing he could’ve done” to his girlfriend.

Amid the backlash, DDG said Halle heard the song, and said, “It’s just music.”

“Sometimes I exaggerate situations purposely for the sake of the song. I think I’m going to just stop trolling,” the rapper told Uproxx. “They can’t handle my humor, so I’m gonna just chill, drop music, and let it ride out.”

Chloe said she just wants her little sister to be happy

Chloe Bailey, Halle’s “Ungodly Hour” collaborator, voiced love and support for her younger sister’s relationship with DDG. During an Instagram Live in September, the 25-year-old singer said she’s not the only who has been “just so happy.”

“Halle and Darryl are so happy. He’s been so sweet and everything,” she said, according to Blavity. “I f— with Darryl, I don’t care what nobody says. Y’all don’t see behind the scenes. Like I love them, I really do.”

Chloe, now a new aunt, shared similar feelings during an interview with Capital Xtra. “I’m a big sis, she’s my little baby. I’m always protective, but he makes her happy and she’s happy so that’s all that matters to me,” she said.

For Halle, DDG romance is a ‘deep, real love’

The same month she and DDG sparked pregnancy rumors, Halle said her relationship with the rapper was more than just puppy love.

The “Color Purple” actor-singer told Cosmopolitan that being with DDG “is my first deep, deep, real love.” She also said that the love she has for DDG has manifested in more ways than one.

“This has been a really beautiful transformative time for me. I have all this new material to write about,” Halle told the magazine. “It’s like, ‘What the heck did I just experience and go through?’ A whirlwind of amazingness. You never know what you’re capable of until you’re put through it.”

She added: “I was very creatively inspired, and then from there, I fell in love.”

The musicians’ love inspired more than just their work, as the couple re-created high-profile pop culture pairings for Halloween, including Tupac and Janet Jackson in “Poetic Justice” and Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown.

DDG defends Halle after alleged ‘racist’ encounter at L.A. nail salon

Just days before Thanksgiving, DDG had his claws out for a Los Angeles nail salon, accusing its staff of “racist” behavior toward his girlfriend. The rapper wrote in a since-deleted tweet, “This place [the Perfect Nails salon] is racist towards black people. They kicked my girlfriend out while doing her nails” and urged his followers to review-bomb the salon on Yelp.

After taking the hit on Yelp, a woman who identified herself as Leyla, the owner of the salon, shared her own account of the alleged incident and responded to the negative reviews. The woman did not name Halle but said her client asked to reschedule an appointment for her and her sister 30 minutes later than originally planned. Leyla told them that would not be possible as her salon was fully booked for the day.

Instead, Halle showed up 15 minutes late to the 3 p.m. appointment, which Leyla said was fine with her, but after 20 minutes Chloe had yet to arrive, and Leyla informed Halle that they wouldn’t be able to service Chloe because they had other clients. Leyla said that Chloe ended up being 35 minutes late to the appointment.

“There was nothing dramatic, there is nothing bad,” Leyla said. “We weren’t rude, we just refused the service to a client who was late 35 minutes.”

Halle shared her side of the story in several since-expired videos on her social media accounts. The actor-singer claimed she and the owner agreed that it would be fine if her sister arrived 15 to 20 minutes late to their 3:10 p.m. appointment time. According to Halle, the Perfect Nails owner kept asking about her sister’s tardiness and said they were booked for the day.

Halle said the owner ultimately canceled Chloe’s appointment and they engaged in a back-and-forth. Midway through Halle’s treatment, Chloe arrived, but by that point Halle had had enough and decided the sisters would be taking their business elsewhere.

“I just told [the salon worker] that was unacceptable and rude because I have been a loyal customer,” she said. “That really disappointed me.”

After the fallout, Halle reportedly responded to headlines on Instagram writing, “Y’all it is not that serious i just was explaining my day on snapchat,” according to Complex. That wasn’t the case for Perfect Nails, which fired back claiming in its own since-expired Instagram story, “Our business [is] ruined!.”

DDG moved on from the nail salon scandal in other ways: spreading positivity on social media. In one tweet, he wrote, “Being nice to people is free.. it cost to be mean.”

“Let’s spread more love & positivity around the world,” he said in another tweet.

Times staff writer Carlos De Loera contributed to this report.