Lionel Richie Jokes Pregnant Sofia Richie Is Having a ‘Nervous Breakdown’

Lionel Richie joked his daughter Sofia Richie Grainge is facing some nerves as she prepares for motherhood.

“Elliot [Grainge] and them are about to have a complete nervous breakdown,” Lionel, 74, told Extra on Sunday, May 19, referring to Sofia’s husband. “I keep saying, ‘Calm down. When the baby comes, then your nervous breakdown will start.’”

While Sofia, 25, gears up for her first baby, Lionel gushed that his life “is so full right now.”

“I mean, 39 years ago was We Are the World: The Greatest Night in Pop, and now here it is on Netflix and is doing amazing, No. 1 around the world,” he said. “And then we’ve got my [Sofia] — my baby’s now having a baby. What the heck is going on?”

Pregnant Sofia Richie Is ‘Waiting’ for Her Baby Girl to Arrive

Lionel noted that he’s set to tour with Earth, Wind & Fire over the summer, which he called a “great time.” He added, “And of course, another great season of American Idol. I mean, come on.”

Sofia announced earlier this year that she and Elliot, 30, are expecting their first child together after they tied the knot in April 2023. “I found out very, very early,” she told Vogue in January. “I was about four weeks pregnant. I was on a trip to Milan for fashion week, and I was going to the Prada show. I was doing a really quick 24-hour turnaround, and I felt terrible but didn’t think much of it. I thought it was jet lag.”

When the pregnancy test came back positive, Sofia gushed that the couple were “so excited” and “both cried.” She added, “It was crazy and overwhelming and so hard not to scream it from the rooftops.”

Later that month, the pair revealed they were having a baby girl. “Sorry to all my neighbors for the horrifying scream

,” Sofia captioned a TikTok video of her and Elliot’s sex reveal, where he popped a confetti cannon that exploded with pink powder.

Sofia Richie and Elliot Grainge’s Relationship Timeline

Lionel, for his part, is “absolutely thrilled” about his growing family. “He was ecstatic when they told him and the family that they were expecting their first child,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in January.

The insider shared that it was a “bittersweet moment” for Lionel because he “realizes his baby girl is all grown up and going to become a mom.” The source added that Lionel “couldn’t hold back the tears.” (Lionel and his ex-wife Brenda Harvey adopted Nicole Richie in 1981. He shares Sofia and son Miles with ex-wife Diane Alexander.)

While Lionel can’t wait to become a grandpa, he doesn’t want to be called that. “I’m Pop-Pop,” he told Entertainment Tonight in January. “We don’t get the ‘grandpa.’ Yeah, that’s a little deep. Pop-Pop is where we’re going.”