For the past few years, Delta Goodrem has spoken openly about wanting to be a mum, telling friends and the public alike that it will happen when the timing is just right.
In the meantime, she has been getting plenty of practice playing “Auntie Dee” to her brother Trent’s kids, Emmy, two, and Nate, four.
Now, it seems, the 36-year-old Innocent Eyes singer and her partner Matthew Copley have decided it’s finally Delta’s turn to become a mother.
“She has often spoken about timing and her schedule,” says a source.
“She wants to be there 24/7 for her child and at times her work-life balance didn’t allow for that. She spent her teens, 20s and into her 30s focused purely on her music, acting and, of course, beating her Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosis. She’s seen and done a lot for her age, and now her mind has turned to the next chapter in her life. She has babies on the brain.”
The insider says Delta has been “laying low for a few months now”, sparking fevered speculation among her close friends that she’s pregnant with her much longed-for first child.
“She’s been turning down invitations to bigger social gatherings and is sticking with a tiny bubble of trusted people,” says the source.
“She was never a big drinker but she’s even been turning down just a glass of white wine, which is her favourite tipple. So she’s either on more of a health kick than usual, or she’s already pregnant.”
Fantastic father
In 2016, Delta revealed her baby plans to TV Week, saying, “I’d love to have a family. If it’s meant to be, then one day, it will.”
And given the current state of things in Australia and around the world, it couldn’t be more meant to be.
“Delta was already scaling back her commitments with a baby – and her age – in mind when she decided to end her tenure as a judge on The Voice, and now the pandemic has stifled any plans to tour, or head back to her home in Los Angeles and work on new music,” says a source.
“As horrible as the past year has been on everyone, she has enjoyed the forced slowdown and spending more quality time at home with Matthew.
“They are more in love than ever and she thinks he would make a fantastic father.”
Despite a few rocky patches in their early days of dating, friends say Matthew – who is a member of Delta’s band and a musician in his own right – “is all in with Delta. He considers himself the luckiest man in the world.”
It’s even rumoured the pair married in secret last year.
“He was a bit of a wild one in his youth on the music scene but he is fully committed and settled in this relationship,” says the source.
“They are as ready as they’ll ever be to start a family.”
And Delta and Matthew have been getting used to the kids bubble by spending time with her young niece and nephew.
“I cried my eyes out when I found out they [Trent and his wife] were having a baby,” she says.
“He gave me a surprise card with a cute message. I burst into tears when I read it. A lot of my best friends have children. I’m Auntie Dee to all their kids.”