By World Licence 
Emmy Russell and Tyler Ray Ward Courtesy of Emmy Russell/Instagram
American Idol runner-up Emmy Russell , who is the granddaughter of late country legend Loretta Lynn , is going to be a mom!
“Y’all, Tyler [Ward] and I are having a little girl,” Russell, 25, said during a recent taping of the “Got it From My Momma” podcast. “I’m so excited.”
Ward, 40, immediately ran on stage to rub Russell’s belly before taking his place in the crowd.
“I didn’t know I was going to be doing this right after American Idol ended,” said Russell, a season 22 runner-up. “So this is how my life has unfolded. I’m so excited and looking forward to it.”
Russell was joined by her mother, Patsy, in the episode, who also teased her reaction to the news of her daughter’s pregnancy.
“I always said it was ‘Emmy and Tyler having a baby’ because they both have to go through it,” Patsy said. “It’s so true. I keep sending Tyler memes of these girls saying, ‘I can’t wear anything, I’m fat.’”
While Russell and Ward haven’t gone public with their relationship for the most part, he’s been instrumental in her Idol journey.
“I feel this distinct voice that says, ‘You’ve got a job to do,’ and I think that was really present too. I was so tired of listening to that inner voice that’s always criticizing us,” says Russell, who entered the singing competition without telling her mother. “I was just like, ‘I want to prove everyone wrong.’ Everyone was like, ‘She’s probably not going to make it.’”
She added: “I remember looking at Tyler and thinking, ‘I’m going to do this and I’m not going to hide anymore.’ I remember when MeeMaw passed away and we got to be alone with her, I remember holding her hand, like I was saying, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to do this, but I’m going to do something with my gift.’ It was almost like a creepy compliment that I was giving her.”
Russell then recalled that Lynn often told him, “God doesn’t give a plumber’s tool not to use.” (Lynn died in 2022 at age 90.)
“She used to say, ‘He gave you a gift. You have to use it.’ And so, I think about it and I still think about it today, but I knew that maybe this was the right place to do it.”
Russell auditioned for Idol with a piano rendition of an original song called “Skinny,” which was a collaboration with Ward.
“I put this song out with Song House, and Tyler runs Song House,” she said. “He was like, ‘You have to do it. We just have to put the song out.’ And then seeing all the feedback on it, I was like, ‘This is bigger than me. I have to get out of the way.’ … Putting that song out [was] special.”