Celebrity entertainment announcer Mario Lopez and his wife Courtney joyfully announced last Friday that they are expecting their third child. The news comes after a long season of waiting and praying that God would expand their family.
‘Extra’ Host Mario Lopez Reveals ‘Unfortunate’ Truth for Christians in Hollywood
In an interview with People magazine earlier this week, Lopez explained that after almost a year of trying, he and his wife had begun to accept that perhaps another child wasn’t “God’s plan” for their family of four.
“If it didn’t happen, it wasn’t meant to be. Not part of God’s plan. We have one of each,” 45-year-old Lopez told People.
But just before the end of 2018, the couple learned that they’d conceived.
“But it got in there! It snuck in, towards the end, so a bit of a Christmas miracle,” Lopez said.
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The youngest member of the Lopez family is due in July.
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Lopez explained that they announced the pregnancy earlier this time because Courtney “didn’t want anyone thinking she was getting fat.”
Dispelling his wife’s fears, Lopez said, “I love when she is pregnant. I think she looks beautiful and wears pregnancy well. I love my wife while she’s pregnant, she looks great.”
Since Lopez and his wife already have a son and a daughter — Dominic “Nico” Luciano, 5, and Gia Francesca, 8 — the “Extra” host joked that the third baby will be a “tie-breaker.”
“It doesn’t matter, to be honest, as long as it’s healthy,” he said of the child’s gender. “We’re just very excited. The gender reveal will be when it’s born!”
Mario Lopez’s recent faith journey
Back in March, Lopez traveled to Israel and was baptized in the Jordan River, the same place Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Baptist, according to Scripture.
“We are at the Jordan River where John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ. I’m about to get baptized,” Lopez announced before he took the plunge. “It’s a beautiful day. There’s a really cool Catholic priest that’s gonna do me the honors. And there’s a sermon going on right now. So I’m going to join these fine folks and then, bam! It’s on!”
Got baptized in the same river Jesus did…#JordanRiver #Jesus #JohnTheBaptist pic.twitter.com/WIuPtqEk9b
— Mario Lopez (@mariolopezviva) March 22, 2018
“This is awesome,” Lopez said after the milestone ceremony. “Wow. I just got baptized in the Jordan River. Hallelujah.”
How has being a Christian in Hollywood changed his life?
Over the summer, the E! News host described the plight of Christians in entertainment as “unfortunate.”
“[Faith] is alive in me. It’s not really as prevalent [in Hollywood] as I think it should be,” Lopez told podcast host Lucas Miles in early June. “If you don’t think necessarily the way the left does entirely — they don’t embrace diverse thought, so it’s unfortunate.”
But despite the unwillingness in Hollywood to embrace Christians, Lopez noted the irony of how successful faith-based movies have become in recent years. He even predicted more Christian movies coming in the future.
“The films that have come with a spiritual aspect,” he said, “they manage to be very successful, so I think little by little, it’s making its impact.”