

The Celeb Babies Making Their 2023 Debut In The Year So Far
We are only a couple of months into the year so far, but one thing's for certain and two things for sure, we have baby on the brain. And some of our favorite celebrities are either pregnant or have a newborn that has just made their 2023 debut. From Keke Palmer to Rihanna, these are the 2023 celebrity baby announcements of the year so far.
Rihanna and A$AP Rocky are expecting their second child together.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation
We'd be remiss to not mention the woman who made the Super Bowl the center stage for her announcement of baby #2. In the past, celebrities have made pregnancy announcements in some big ways, but billionaire Rihanna turned that up a notch with this past Sunday's halftime performance news. In a recent interview with Zane Lowe, Rihanna's longtime beau A$AP Rocky shared that fatherhood felt like coming home "to heaven every day," adding, "I’m so thankful. God is good, man."
The couple, who infamously went from friends to lovers, welcomed their son and first child together last May.
Naturi Naughton and husband Two Lewis announced their first child together.
Naturi Naughton revealed in an exclusive with PEOPLEthat she is expecting her second child, which will be her first with husband Two Lewis. The couple who have been together since 2019 married last year in 2022 and now have the additional excitement of adding a new bundle of joy to their happy family. She told PEOPLE, "This is Two's first baby, so he's extra excited to create another human. Even through the many challenges that can occur with pregnancy, we want to push ourselves to be the best partners and the best parents we can be!"
Keke Palmer has her first child on the way with boyfriend Darius Jackson.
When it comes to our girl Keke Palmer, I think we all knew there was a possibility she was pregnant. Shortly after Nope press wrapped, it seemed Keke would be spotted and rumors of a pregnancy swirled. However, with no confirmation, we waited with bated breath until she made it unequivocally known that she was indeed with child on an episode of SNL that she hosted last month.
Since, Keke has been an open book about the joy she feels becoming a mother to her first child with Darius Jackson, the potential of having a Pisces on her hands, and being a boy mom. She also wowed us in a breathtaking maternity photo shot by David LaChapelle.
As far as baby names go, Keke assures that there will be no True Jackson in the mix.
Grace Byers and husband Trai Byers are expecting their first child.
This pregnancy announcement also happened late last year, but the Byers baby will most definitely be arriving earthside in this glorious year of 2023. Grace Byers and Trai Byers met on the set of the hit FOX show Empire and have been together ever since. They became engaged in 2015 before getting married a year later and are now expanding their family with a new edition. Aside from IG shoutouts and bump pics, the two have seemed relatively quiet about the pregnancy.
Naomi Osaka shared a 'little life update' that she is pregnant with her first child.
Tennis phenom Naomi Osaka shared earlier this year in a "little life update" on Instagram that she is expecting her first child with rapper boyfriend and longtime love Cordae. In her caption underneath a photo of her ultrasound, she wrote, "Can’t wait to get back on the court but here’s a little life update for 2023."
Shemar Moore became a dad for the first time at 52.
Shemar Moore was always someone I saw as a forever bachelor, like a Black equivalent of Leonardo DiCaprio (but maybe more age-appropriate). However, earlier this year on The Jennifer Hudson Show, he revealed that he was going to become a dad for the first time, a girl dad at that. Color me shocked! He told Jennifer on her show that he was worried about having missed his opportunity to be a father. "I was worried for a while that maybe that ship had sailed kind of thing, and, you know, God had my back and things lined up. My life is pretty grand but I know once God does call my name, once I get this experience, I'll be able to go to heaven whole," he said.
His daughter with girlfriend Jesiree Dizon was born January 24, 2023, and the S.W.A.T. actor seems over the moon with his "new partner in crime."
Gucci Mane and Keyshia Ka'Oir welcomed their second baby together.
Rapper Gucci Mane and Keyshia Ka'Oir recently welcomed their second child together, a daughter who they named Iceland Ka'Oir Davis. The power couple with an affinity for "icy" names also share a son together named Ice who was born in December 2020.
The longtime loves also have children from previous relationships with Gucci having one son and Keyshia having a son and two daughters.
Reality stars Amber Borzotra and Chauncey Palmer are expecting their first child.
The Challenge alums Amber Borzotra and Chauncey Palmer can now add becoming new parents on their list of accomplishments. The real-life couple who recently competed together on the MTV competition show announced that they are expecting a child together late last month. Amber wrote cheekily in her caption, "Call me mama because I’m having a baby!"
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Featured image by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Smile, Sis! These Five Improvements Can Upgrade Your Oral Hygiene Instantly
This article is in partnership with Sensodyne.
Our teeth are connected to so many things - our nutrition, our confidence, and our overall mood. We often take for granted how important healthy teeth are, until issues like tooth sensitivity or gum recession come to remind us. Like most things related to our bodies, prevention is the best medicine. Here are five things you can do immediately to improve your oral hygiene, prevent tooth sensitivity, and avoid dental issues down the road.
1) Go Easy On the Rough Brushing: Brushing your teeth is and always will be priority number one in the oral hygiene department. No surprises there! However, there is such a thing as applying too much pressure when brushing…and that can lead to problems over time. Use a toothbrush with soft bristles and brush in smooth, circular motions. It may seem counterintuitive, but a gentle approach to brushing is the most effective way to clean those pearly whites without wearing away enamel and exposing sensitive areas of the teeth.
2) Use A Desensitizing Toothpaste: As everyone knows, mouth pain can be highly uncomfortable; but tooth sensitivity is a whole different beast. Hot weather favorites like ice cream and popsicles have the ability to trigger tooth sensitivity, which might make you want to stay away from icy foods altogether. But as always, prevention is the best medicine here. Switching to a toothpaste like Sensodyne’s Sensitivity & Gum toothpaste specifically designed for sensitive teeth will help build a protective layer over sensitive areas of the tooth. Over time, those sharp sensations that occur with extremely cold foods will subside, and you’ll be back to treating yourself to your icy faves like this one!
3) Floss, Rinse, Brush. (And In That Order!): Have you ever heard the saying, “It’s not what you do, but how you do it”? Well, the same thing applies to taking care of your teeth. Even if you are flossing and brushing religiously, you could be missing out on some of the benefits simply because you aren’t doing so in the right order. Flossing is best to do before brushing because it removes food particles and plaque from places your toothbrush can’t reach. After a proper flossing sesh, it is important to rinse out your mouth with water after. Finally, you can whip out your toothbrush and get to brushing. Though many of us commonly rinse with water after brushing to remove excess toothpaste, it may not be the best thing for our teeth. That’s because fluoride, the active ingredient in toothpaste that protects your enamel, works best when it gets to sit on the teeth and continue working its magic. Rinsing with water after brushing doesn’t let the toothpaste go to work like it really can. Changing up your order may take some getting used to, but over time, you’ll see the difference.
4) Stay Hydrated: Upping your water supply is a no-fail way to level up your health overall, and your teeth are no exception to this rule. Drinking water not only helps maintain a healthy pH balance in your mouth, but it also washes away residue and acids that can cause enamel erosion. It also helps you steer clear of dry mouth, which is a gateway to bad breath. And who needs that?
5) Show Your Gums Some Love: When it comes to improving your smile, you may be laser-focused on getting your teeth whiter, straighter, and overall healthier. Rightfully so, as these are all attributes of a megawatt smile; but you certainly don’t want to leave gum health out of the equation. If you neglect your gums, you’ll start to notice the effects of plaque buildup, which can irritate the gums and cause gingivitis, the earliest stage of gum disease. Seeing blood while brushing and flossing is a tell-tale sign that your gums are suffering. You may also experience gum recession — a condition where the gum tissue surrounding your teeth pulls back, exposing more of your tooth. Brushing at least twice a day with a gum-protecting toothpaste like Sensodyne Sensitivity and Gum, coupled with regular dentist visits, will keep your gums shining as bright as those pearly whites.
Black Girls Tennis Club Is Empowering Black Women and Girls To Reclaim Their Space On The Court
The face of tennis is changing, and it’s about time. Over the years, if you were asked to name any Black tennis player, two would come to mind: Serena and Venus Williams — and rightfully so. But as new tennis sensations like Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka rise to fame for their athleticism and tenacity, it’s clear that there’s a new era of tennis taking shape to bring forth a fresh take on representation and reclamation on the courts.
For that reason alone, there’s no better time than now for Black Girl Tennis Club co-founders Virginia Thornton and Kimberly Selden to lead the charge of making tennis more accessible to Black women and girls so the next Serena and Coco can emerge.
What began as your everyday lunch chat between friends to discuss their mutual dream of owning a boutique hotel turned into a proposition to start a tennis club together. With Virginia being a tennis player since adolescence and Kimberly entering the sport as a hobby in her adult life, the two jumped at the idea of making a space where Black women could discover a new hobby and not feel like the “only one” on the tennis court.
“The club kind of started for selfish reasons, but not in a bad way,” Virginia tells xoNecole. “We realized that there was actually a need for this.”
Kimberly adds, “Now we're literally disrupting a whole industry. We didn't plan it, but it felt divine; like we were called to do this. Black Girls Tennis Club has been a catalyst for personal growth in all areas of life, and we would have never anticipated that.”
Since establishing the Black Girl Tennis Club in 2022, the two have made it their mission to cultivate a space for “Joy Equity and Radical Wellness.” Their platform serves as a means to inform, inspire, motivate, and reshape the narrative around Black women and girls in the tennis world while highlighting the transformative power of sports and play for liberation.
With approximately 78% of tennis players being white and only 6.8% being Black, and the average cost of a private tennis lesson being $60 per hour, racial and economic disparities within the sport are vast. To help close this gap, the two founders have banded together to develop free tennis instruction clinics for girls aged 8-18 and local tennis events that bring adult offerings through programs like the Self Love Tennis Club and Cardio Tennis Classes to HBCU campuses in Virginia.
Both Virginia and Kimberly understand the power of their mission and believe that they were brought on each other’s path to execute it together. “It’s the power of alignment,” Kimberly says. “I think when you're doing the right thing and you're obedient, and answer the call, that’s when things start to happen, and the universe conspires to make them happen.”
We caught up with the founders to discuss their mission, the importance of representation, and how they plan to disrupt the tennis industry one court at a time.
xoNecole: Could you talk a little more about your CARE pillars with change, access, representation and exposure?
Kimberly Selden: As we started to do the work, we saw that there were so many equity issues. Although we knew from our own personal experiences that there are barriers to tennis being an expensive sport, we just acknowledged it as the culture of tennis. Because it's predominantly white, that transfers over to the fashion, the dynamics on the court, the attitudes, and the mindset. And so we knew this required a culture shift for us to ever really feel comfortable.
We were exposing kids to tennis, and then after the clinics, they're like, "Okay, now what?" It's still expensive, and they still may or may not have had access to it if they're not with us. We don't want to just pop in like, "Hey, here's a clinic, bye!" So, the culture change is just a reflection of what our existence looks like. Access is about being able to access the sport through courts, programs, or a coach. Representation is that we can't believe it until we see it.
Granted, there are a lot of pro Black women tennis players taking off, and we love that. But we think about media representation as well [as] representation within the USCA, in the boardrooms, and the people that are making the rules around the game.
xoN: Why do you all think it’s important for Black women and girls to reclaim their space on the tennis court?
Virginia Thornton: It's rare, at least in my world, where you're in a space and see nothing but women who look like you. But it makes me feel great when I can be my authentic self, especially on a tennis court. Just shedding all the weight of pretending to be anything else. You feel at home when you're around nothing but Black women. Even small things like seeing a young Black girl being okay with how God made them is amazing.
KS: [In] the Atlanta clinics we did, everyone was crying. It's just clear how desperately we need it. Connection is the key to a long life. So many of us — especially from the pandemic and working from home — are isolated. With every clinic, it's just fun to be there, and it just fills you up. I think people need hobbies. I think a lot of people, especially people in big cities, feel that way and were confronted with that during the pandemic.
xoN: How did sports play a role in helping you two find your voice and confidence both on and off the court?
VT: I think what people don't realize is that tennis is such a mental sport. You could be a 4.0 player and have a bad mental day, and you will play like you've never picked up a racquet before. So, the mental piece is super important. For me, it's like ‘you against you,’ even though you are playing somebody.
If you're able to work through those mental pieces with yourself on the court, that will translate off the court. I had an issue on the court where I have a habit of saying, "Sorry," — I think a lot of Black women do, honestly. Then I realized that they wouldn't say sorry or they’d use my kindness as weakness. I've learned a lesson in that because everything translates on and off the court.
"If you're able to work through those mental pieces with yourself on the court, that will translate off the court."
KS: It's easy for me to do things that I'm good at, but it's not easy for me to do things that I'm not good at. Tennis is still challenging for me, but it pushes me. It’s a reality check for me; I know when things are aligned, and when they're not. It feels like a big metaphor for me because it's pushing me to do something that's uncomfortable and makes me work for myself more.
xoN: What do you hope the long-term impact of Black Girl Tennis Club will be?
VS: We want to have a space for people who might be workaholics or might be going through depression. It's always great to have a hobby, whether that's knitting, sewing, or what have you. For me and Kimberly, it’s about creating hobbies for Black women and girls but also knowing that it’s okay to not be amazing at it. You don't have to be amazing at tennis; you could hit around the court, and that's okay.
The next Serena or Venus might come from Black Girls Tennis Club.
To support Black Girl Tennis Club’s mission, donate to their cause here and follow their Instagram page to stay up to date with new clinics and events.
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