Zachary Levi and girlfriend Maggie Keating are expecting their first baby

Zachary Levi will soon be a dad for the first time!

The feed The actor shared via Instagram on Friday, December 6, that his girlfriend Maggie Keating was pregnant with the couple’s first child.

“I have wanted to be a father since I was a child. “I have always felt this calling in my life,” Levi, 44, gushed in the post revealing the exciting news. “This desire in my heart. A strange feeling of incompleteness because I didn’t have that level of love and responsibility in my journey. That the best years of my life would come after finally being a father.”

He continued, “But deep down I knew there were things in my life that had to change before I was ready for the blessing of something so special and the responsibilities that come with it.”

Related: Laura Benanti criticizes Broadway co-star Zachary Levi: ‘I never liked him’

Laura Benanti isn’t a fan of former Broadway co-star Zachary Levi — and she doesn’t care who knows it. “I never liked him,” Benanti, 45, said of Levi, 44, during an appearance on the Wednesday, December 4, episode of “That’s a Gay Ass Podcast.” “Everyone said, ‘He’s so great!’ And I was (…)

Levi also described the changes he went through as he prepared to “realize” his dream of becoming a father.

“Last November I started making some changes in my life. Changes that ultimately led to me loving and valuing myself more. I prioritize my own physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health,” he wrote. “Lo and behold, immediately things began to change for the better. And very quickly, God brought a brilliant, honest, grounded and deep love into my life through the angelic form of @maggiekeating. A wonderful woman on the same journey of self-discovery and love, ready to enter a new and amazing chapter of life with me. So we did it. 🥰”

Reflecting on the baby’s arrival, Levi joked that the couple is open to suggestions when it comes to the yet-to-be-determined name of the newborn.

“We can’t wait for you all to meet our little Bambino. We’ll wait until birth to find out the gender, but I’ll be over the moon either way,” Levi wrote. “Always accept potential baby names. Keep them original, but not TOO original. We don’t need them to be bullied more than their theater nerd dad.”

Related: Celebrity pregnancy announcements for 2024: See which stars are expecting babies

So many stars have announced that they are expanding their families by welcoming babies in 2024. Princess Beatrice is pregnant with her second child, Buckingham Palace announced in October 2024. The palace said 36-year-old Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, “are very pleased to announce that they are expecting their second child together in (…).

Alongside the lengthy caption, the actor shared an ultrasound of the couple’s unborn child as well as a photo of a loving couple in which Levi and Keating are seen together.

Levi recently made headlines after his former Broadway co-star Laura BenantiThe 45-year-old took aim at the actor, claiming she “never liked” him.

“Everyone said, ‘He’s so great!’ And I was like, ‘No, he’s not,'” she said on the Wednesday, Dec. 4 episode of “That’s a Gay Ass Podcast,” adding, “He’s soaking up all the damn energy in that room. “