Laine Hardy and Jordan Gautreau Courtesy of Laine Hardy/Instagram
American Idol winner Laine Hardy has much to sing about, recently proposing to his pregnant girlfriend, Jordan Gautreau.
“The secret is out…. I’m having his babyyyy🤭,” Gautreau wrote via Instagram on Saturday, September 7, quoting Taylor Swift’s “But Daddy I Love Him.”
In Gautreau’s post, she and Hardy, 23, included footage from the moment he popped the question. The country singer got down on one knee outside on a farm, holding a bouquet of white wildflowers.
“We are so excited for this chapter of our lives. Looking forward to God’s plan for us. The biggest surprise and the easiest YES!” Gautreau added in her caption. “Can’t wait for our new title as parents and to plan a wedding🏼🤍💍 #partywiththehardys.”
American Idol paved the way for reality competition shows to help everyday people achieve their dreams of music stardom. The series premiered in 2002 on Fox with a star-studded judging panel consisting of Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson. American Idol‘s freshman season introduced Kelly Clarkson, who would become the show’s first breakout star. […]
According to Gautreau, she is due in 2025.
Hardy and Gautreau, an NFL cheerleader for the New Orleans Saints, have not publicly shared the origins of their love story.
Hardy rose to fame on 2019’s season 17 of American Idol. He faced off with Alejandro Aranda and Madison VanDenburg before taking home the top prize. Judge Katy Perry told Us Weekly at the time that the competition could have gone to any of the three.
“What’s interesting about tonight is that there was a curveball, I thought,” Perry, 39, exclusively told Us in May 2019. “[It] threw us through a loop. So that’s why at the end we were like, ‘What is happening?’ I’m not sure, I think, you hear these whispers like, ‘Oh, American Idol is this format, that format.’ It feels like change is in the air.”
Many stars are taking their relationships to the next level in 2024 by getting engaged. Less than one month after Bachelor in Paradise season 9 alum Brayden Bowers revealed that he was dating fellow Bachelor Nation personality Christina Mandrell, he proposed. “I just knew that there was something special, and there was something different, and […]
Fellow judge Lionel Richie concurred.
“The two or three people at the beginning were the people we were thinking, ‘OK, they’re going to have a shot.’ It threw us off,” Richie, 75, recalled to Us at the time. “We were in shock when they asked us for our vote. But, I’m going to say this, they’ve all won now. Don’t think of the winner.”
Once Hardy won, he received a cash prize and a recording deal with Disney’s Hollywood Records. He has since left the label.
“I was just 17 years old when I first tried out for American Idol, and at the time, I couldn’t have ever imagined where I was headed,” Hardy wrote via Instagram in October 2022. “Since then, I’ve been able to tour across America, play for our troops in Asia and make new fans in Europe. I had to grow up quickly and I am still learning more about myself every day.”
He added, “The teams at 19 Entertainment and Disney Music Group have given me so much support and guidance, and I will forever be grateful and now it’s time for me to take my career in a new direction and I am figuring that out.”
