John Legend is a talented musician, an all-star coach on The Voice season 22, a loving husband, and a devoted father to two children, with another on the way. He's released a wide variety of soulful music throughout the course of his career, each a different sonic experience that changes and evolves as he has since he debuted "Ordinary People," his first single in 2004 with will.i.am.
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One thing that hasn't changed over the years is his love for wife Chrissy Teigen, who Legend has been with for 16 years. That's nearly two decades of love, and the two are fiercely loyal to each other. They've had their share of ups and downs, as everyone does, but they're still going strong after all these years. Though Legend has dated other women in the past, he's well-known for his much-publicized relationship with Teigen and the family they've made together.
The Voice seems to be a series where love blooms where you least expect it—just look at Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani— and Legend's heartwarming love story is one that new viewers enjoying The Voice every week may not even be aware of. If you're just tuning in to the show or you find yourself wanting to know more about Legend and how he became a family man, we've got everything you need to know below.
The Beautiful Beginning
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Legend and Teigen met for the first time because of Legend's single "Stereo" from his second album Once Again. It needed a music video and a beautiful woman to star in it opposite Legend—thus, Teigen joined the project. Their meeting seemed too good to be true.
Model and TV host Teigen was featured prominently in the heavily stylized video for "Stereo," posing seductively and appearing in lingerie throughout the clip as she and Legend dance close to one another. Their chemistry? It's off the charts in that first clip.
"We did the music video, we were together for like 12 hours," Teigen told talk show host Wendy Williams in 2014 of her time with Legend. "We spent the entire day together, me in my underwear and him in a full suit, and I went to go say goodbye to him at his hotel. We didn't ever say goodbye that night."
Making It Official
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After their initial meet-cute on the set of Legend's music video, he and Teigen didn't actually become an official couple yet. It took a few months for them to decide they were moving forward as partners. Since their meeting and subsequent decision to make things official in 2006, the pair have been mostly inseparable, except for a brief period (a day, according to Teigen as relayed to Cosmopolitan)—and Legend has been part of a whirlwind romance that's been as inspiring as his mentorship to the lucky singers on The Voice who join his team.
In the years following their meeting, they took a romantic vacation to Lake Como, Italy, and enjoyed some time together there. It was such a wonderful experience that Teigen confessed via Instagram in 2016 that she made a wish that night that Legend would be the man she marries "and has children with."
They took things even more public with multiple outings to award shows and additional events, like the 50th Annual Grammy Awards in 2008, and were photographed together at a variety of locations, all smiles, cozied up for the camera. They fell in love at every turn, all the way until 2011, when something huge happened.
Wedding Bells Ring
Screengrab via YouTube
Legend and Teigen dated for four years before the singer decided he wanted to take things to the next level. But what was initially meant as a romantic, planned proposal Legend thought out to surprise Teigen with almost turned into a nightmare.
The pair had planned a trip to the Maldives in 2011, but ended up fighting the entire way to the airport. When they finally reached it without going at each other's throats, a trip through the TSA's security checkpoint nearly ruined Legend's proposal.
"[The ring] was in my carry-on bag going through airport security, and security wanted to look through my bag and they wanted to look in that particular box," Legend told Oprah in a 2013 interview. "And Chrissy was standing right next to me and I was, like, 'Oh, my God. I've hid it so well this whole time. Now as we're just about to get to the Maldives she's going to find out I have a ring in this box and it's going to ruin the surprise and I'll have to get on my knees in the airport.'"
It appears luck was on Legend's side, however, as the TSA inspection didn't reveal his plans. They made it to the Maldives, celebrated a wonderful Christmas together, and Legend executed the proposal like an old pro, all with a fun Christmas twist on the pair's evening dessert. Legend stored the ring in its box on a silver platter that Teigen fished out.
"There was no big grand speech or anything," Teigen shared during the same interview with Oprah. "I think it was just very lovely and sweet."
With that, the two were set to be wed, and ended up tying the knot on September 13, 2013 in a New York City courthouse ahead of their actual wedding on September 14 in Lake Como. Yes, the very same locale Teigen had wished she could marry Legend to begin with—all part of the fairytale relationship Legend had been building with his fiancée.
Little Legends
Legend and Teigen were happily married for two years before they announced they'd be bringing their first child into the world: a baby girl named Luna Simone Stephens. Teigen gave birth on April 14, 2016 to a healthy daughter who quickly became the apple of the couple's eye.
The doting parents were quick to welcome another little bundle of joy into the world as well. About a year after Luna's birth, Teigen announced her second pregnancy with Legend on November 21, 2017. She gave birth to baby boy Miles Theodore Stephens on May 17, 2018.
Legend and Teigen have embraced family life wholeheartedly, and take an abundance of photos together as well as share the little moments from their daily lives. Fans love the small peeks into Legend's world as well as adorable baby photos—and who doesn't love to look at those?
A Happy Family
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Legend and Teigen have spun a cozy yarn together over the years and are still going strong. They remain happily married and committed to each other, and while Legend is making music and working as a coach on The Voice, Teigen continues to model, host events, and shares her recipes and wisdom on Twitter as well as unforgettable moments from her children's lives.
It's clear the love story that once began with a music video has blossomed into something even more beautiful than the two could ever have imagined. And what's more beautiful than a third baby? Teigen is currently pregnant with the couple's third child, as she confirmed on October 15, 2022, following a series of IVF treatments after the couple lost a pregnancy in September 2020.
"The last few years have been a blur of emotions to say the least, but joy has filled our home and hearts again. 1 billion shots later (in the leg lately, as u can see!) we have another on the way," Teigen shared on Instagram. "I don't think I'll ever walk out of an appointment with more excitement than nerves but so far, everything is perfect and beautiful and I'm feeling hopeful and amazing. Ok phew it's been very hard keeping this in for so long!"
And so, Legend's love story with Teigen and the pair's cozy little family continues to grow. There's so much love between them to share that it's hard not to feel a little giddy about seeing them together—and it looks like there's nowhere to go but up from here.
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