A family worth singing about! After nearly a decade together, Matthew Morrison and Renee Puente expanded their brood welcoming son Revel and daughter Phoenix.
“My wife’s name is Renee, and I’m Matthew, obviously, [and] we wanted our boy to have an R name, and we just kind of came with different R names.” the Glee alum — who wed the Hawaii native in October 2014 — exclusively told Us Weekly in March 2018 of their eldest child, who was born in October 2017. “We were just having a conversation and talking about how we want to revel in our child, just revel in love. It’s not really a typical name, but it’s not so weird.”
Morrison added: “The thing we didn’t really anticipate was, whenever I say his name, some people are like, ‘Rebel?’ That’s the only hard thing.”
As the married couple continued to marvel over Revel’s milestones, they gave their son a little sister, Phoenix, nearly four years later.
“What a monumental joy it is to celebrate this first year of life of our Phoenix Monroe Kahilina’ialoha Morrison. You rose from the ashes of a global pandemic, and the loss of several deep loves to give our family a new beginning,” the Broadway veteran gushed via Instagram in June 2022. “I was so excited go through this whole experience again, with a lot more understanding of what to expect. But the truth is, I could never expect YOU! The way you enamor my heart with your mischievous smile. The kisses you blow to all the pajaros y mariposas. The caution you show with every move, every touch. I can already see so many unique qualities that will surely carry you on this lifelong journey. This is just the beginning.”
Phoenix’s 2021 arrival came nearly two years after Puente suffered a miscarriage.
“I just went through one of the most vulnerable, raw, massive, confusing, just phenomenal experiences that a woman could ever endure,” the Tell Me I Love You actress explained in an October 2019 Instagram video. “Matthew and I have been so intentionally trying to get pregnant and calling our child. I’m trying to call in my child that I know is waiting for us. And I want to just open my life and my arms to this human. And so on our second cycle of calling this child in, we got pregnant. And it was among just such extraordinary intention and love. … I don’t feel sorry for myself, and to go through these experiences and to get pregnant and to be alive is an accomplishment.”
After grieving their pregnancy loss, the former Greatest Dancer mentor and Puente have continued to bask in the joys of parenthood.
“Parenting is a calling on your deepest, innermost vulnerability, strength, patience and healing,” the mother of two wrote via Instagram in July 2022. “It is an opportunity for so much awareness and conscious growth, as long as we’re listening, paying close attention, and willing to take action. Parenting is a gut-wrenching, sobering, heart-warming, radical, out-of-this-world experience of LOVE.”
Scroll below to see Morrison and Puente’s family photos through the years:
