Exciting news for former The Young and the Restless star Tatyana Ali (ex-Roxanne) and her husband, Dr. Vaughn Rasberry: the couple welcomed their second child, a baby boy, in August.
Ali waited until October to share the exciting news, announcing that she and Rasberry named their new son Alejandro Vaughn Rasberry. The new tot joins the couple's first child, son Edward Aszard Rasberry, who was born in 2016.
"Vaughn and I are gushing with joy over the birth of our newest family member," Ali enthuses in an interview with Essence. "Our sleepless nights are deliriously fun."
On the same day of Alejandro's birth, Ali -- who's most known for the 1990s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air but starred on Y&R from 2007 to 2013 -- published a heartfelt essay about her journey into motherhood. Her essay seeks to change the perception of the causes behind the high black maternal mortality rate.
"Some black women I've spoken with are now scared to get pregnant as if there is something broken in us," Ali writes. "Because our lives are so often framed in a 'culture of poverty' narrative, I fear that we have internalized the problem and made ourselves the cause when the truth is we are being treated unfairly, disrespectfully, at worst criminally, or not treated at all."
She writes that this "patriarchy" has kept birth a mystery, with black mothers feeling as if they can't open up about their pregnancy and birthing experiences.
"It's stunning how little we share with one another," Ali writes. "We are so used to questioning our intuition and the strength and beauty of our bodies, not just in appearance, but also in function. We internalize other peoples' gestures and comments -- even more so when those people are healthcare professionals. Now, I'm fairly used to being a black woman in this world. I put on the necessary psychological armor when I leave my home. But who has time for all of that when they are in labor?"
For more from Ali on the challenges that black women face during pregnancy, read her full Essence essay here.
Ali and Rasberry met on the dating site eHarmony in April 2015. She made a double surprise announcement back in 2016 when she told the world that not only were she and Rasberry getting married, but that they were also expecting their first baby. Ali revealed she was expecting her second baby in an Instagram post back in April.
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