Candiace Dillard has welcomed her first baby with husband Chris Bassett.
The former Real Housewives of Potomac star, 37, gave birth to a son, Jett Maxwell Lee, on October 3, per People after undergoing IVF to conceive.
Candiace, who was previously slammed for saying she feared having 'light-skinned children', revealed the arrival of Jett had left her wanting to expand her family and wishing she had had kids sooner.
She said: 'He is just the cutest little thing. Chris and I couldn't be happier. It's so cliché to say, but he's brought such joy to our lives in ways I never would have been able to describe before. It's pure love!
'Oh, I wish I started sooner, because I already want more. And that's a shocking feeling to admit because I hesitated and was afraid and doubted myself for so long. All of those circumstances around becoming a mom, like being pregnant, raising a child, etc.? It really scared me. But it’s been everything and more. I love it.
'I wish I hadn't waited so long. But I also don't regret that this is where I am now and that things worked out the way they did. And in a way, that's comforting to recognize I don't regret it, you know? Like, I've really welcomed every part of this journey with open arms, as it's happened.'
Chris, 46, - who Candiace married in 2018 - is already dad to Owen, 22, Mateo, 14, and Naia, 10 from two previous relationships.
She announced her pregnancy in April in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
'I am about 13 weeks, so just about into the second trimester. It’s been weird, but also really wonderful, I think, to keep it kind of to ourselves to this point,' the mom-to-be told the outlet.
She added, 'Our immediate family knows. My mom — I told my mom on her birthday in February — my dad knows, [Chris’] parents know, my siblings know and that is my core, best friend group, but outside of that it’s just been, like, kind of quietly just growing a bun.'
The couple got engaged in 2017 and walked down the aisle in 2018.
They documented their fertility journey on the popular Bravo TV series and Candiace noted that she and her husband wanted to become parents together before he turned 50.
'I always wondered, like, how would I know when I was ready? And I always felt like a part of my anxiety was that I wasn’t sure that I would know, and when I knew, it was undeniable,' she shared.
'I kind of woke up and realized that I was never going to be 100 percent ready. I just had to trust the process and trust my doctors and stop being afraid and just do it,' Dillard continued.
She underwent IVF in January after freezing her embryos two years ago.
Two weeks later, she said, 'Our doctor called us at 8 a.m. and she tells us that we’re pregnant.'
The husband and wife had one male embryo and one female embryo, but decided to let their doctors choose the sex and don't yet know what they're having.
'We did all the tests. Obviously, we wanted something healthy and I was like, listen, let’s just take the highest graded egg and we’ll put it in there, and this is the one surprise of this whole experience, that we don’t know yet,' Bassett explained.
He added, 'I’ve gotta make sure for me that I stay engaged, ’cause I’ve gotta be super supportive for her and she’s gonna need that all the way through.
'So, that’s kind of what I’m looking forward to, just to share it and experience it with Candiace and just see where it goes.'
In March Dillard officially announced her exit from Real Housewives of Potomac following six seasons on the hit Bravo reality show.
In an official statement to People magazine the star indicated that she was leaving the series to focus on other career endeavors.
'As I embark on a new chapter after six remarkable years with The Real Housewives of Potomac, I am filled with gratitude for the enriching friendships, personal growth and moments of introspection that have defined this journey,' she said.
