Austen Rydell: 5 Things To Know About Billie Lourd’s Fiance & The Father Of Her Baby

View gallery

Billie Lourd and her fiance Austen Rydell are first time parents! The lovebirds announced on Sept. 24 that they welcomed a baby boy after the actress had a secret 2020 pregnancy. The 28-year-old daughter of the late Carrie Fisher announced via Instagram, “Introducing: Kingston Fisher Lourd Rydell” along with blue hearts and gold crown emojis and a photo of his little feet. While Austen and Billie have been a committed couple for several years, the baby news caught a number of Billie’s celeb pals off guard. Billie hadn’t shared anything on the ‘gram since May, and that was a post in memory of what would have been Mother’s Day with her beloved late mom Carrie. The iconic Star Wars actress and novelist passed away on Dec, 27, 2016.

Then-pregnant Billie wasn’t showing yet when Austen, 28, shared a photo of them spending Valentine’s Day 2020 together in Big Sur, CA. “I found the best girl in the world. Happy Valentines Day to us!! We’re hangin with the redwoods today,” he captioned an IG shot of them together, kissing with the sunset in the background. Thanks to COVID-19, most people have spent 2020 in quarantine and staying close to home, so no photos of Billie ever emerged showing her with a baby bump, and the couple kept the pregnancy news to themselves. We’ve got five things to know about Austin Rydell.

1. Austen owns a production company.  He’s the president of Morning Moon Productions. Austen produced the short film Dreamin’ in a Dream and has a movie called The Mensch in pre-production. His company sent Billie birthday wishes in July with an adorable photo of the couple and the caption, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLIE!!!!! Much love from your family at Morning Moon. And an official congratulations to you & our Partner & President of Entertainment @avstenrydell on your engagement.”

2. Austen and Billie have been together for several years, and got engaged on June 25, 2020.  She first appeared on his Instagram account in a photo together on Sept. 21, 2015, celebrating her FOX show Scream Queens. The first video he shared of them together was from when the pair vacationed together in Dec. 2015 in the Dominican Republic’s Punta Cana. It seems they were quite close while she publicly dated Taylor Lautner for eight months, ending in 2017. Things got serious by 2018, when Austen wrote, “Happy Birthday to the best partner and best friend I could ever imagine. I’ve had the best times of my life with you and feel like we’ve just started. Can’t wait till your birthday next year!” next to an IG photo of the pair.  On June 25, 2020, he shared a montage of photos with the caption “She said YES!! (Actually she said ‘Duhhh” But I guess that’s even better than yes?!?'” along with engagement ring emojis to share their engagement news.

3. Austen and Billie love to travel. The pair took an exciting holiday trip in 2018 where they visited Norway, Sweden and Denmark. They howled with wolves and went on a dog-sledding trip in Alta, Norway, along with a reindeer-driven sleigh ride. What could be a better way of spending Christmas than with reindeer near the North Pole? In 2019 the couple vacationed in India for the holidays, where Billie shared lots of IG photos from their exotic getaway.

4. Austen’s step-grandmother recently lost her home and all her belongings in a Southern California brushfire. He shared a heartbreaking photo on Aug. 18 of his step-grandma looking out at the charred remains of her ranch in Lake Hughes, CA, which was destroyed in the Lake Fire. “My grandmother looking at the remains of her home. Luckily she was able to evacuate, but just a couple hours into the #lakefire everything on her ranch burned without time to save more than a few photos,” he wrote in the caption of the tragic snapshot. She had lived at the homestead for 40 years, and shared it with Austen’s maternal grandpa.

5. Austen has a cool mom. His mother Amanda Enclade took him and his brothers to visit late reggae icon Bob Marley‘s home in the Jamaican jungle when they were just boys, as he shared a snapshot of them together there in honor of Mother’s Day 2020. On Amanda’s Instagram page, she noted how over a decade she hosted “Crystal Camp LA” in her backyard. The event’s site describes it as a “LA-based Magical Academy for humans & aliens of all ages.” She was sad the event wasn’t taking place in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her IG page shows she’s into crystals and new age practices. Carrie Fisher would be so happy to know this creative woman will be Billie’s mother-in-law.