Baby Spice, Popped Star

Emma Bunton becomes a first-time mom, welcoming son Beau in London

By Gina Serpe Aug 10, 2007 4:26 PMTags

Baby Spice may have finally found a worthy successor for her moniker.

Spice Girl Emma Bunton became a first-time mother Friday, giving birth to son Beau in London.

The tot was born at 11:12 a.m. at  the private Portland Hospital, the go-to facility for Britain's A-list birthing set and the hospital where girl-power bandmate Victoria Beckham welcomed her three boys. He tipped the scales at 7 pounds, 15 ounces.

Beau, whose name means "beautiful" in French, is the first child for the 31-year-old pop star and her longtime boyfriend, singer Jade Jones, 27.

"Baby's had a baby now," Jones said during a makeshift press conference outside the hospital. "He is absolutely brilliant, and both baby and Emma are doing fine. In fact, Emma is tucking into some flapjacks and Coca-Cola as we speak.

"I'm just pleased to have our little baby boy with us. I'm over the moon. He looks a bit like both of us actually, so he's a very lucky boy."

Though, if he takes after his papa, maybe not a very humble one.

Jones, who earned a modicum of fame across the pond as a member of the long-defunct boy band Damage, added that Bunton was "doing really well, just recovering and bonding with the baby. Both are having a little nap right now."

Bunton and Jones have been together for more than eight years and have not been quiet about their desire to have a baby—or their difficulty in doing so.

Just months before Bunton confirmed her pregnancy back in January, she revealed that she had been diagnosed with endometriosis in 2004, a condition that affects fertility and can make it difficult to conceive. In 2000, she also had precancerous cells removed from her cervix.

With Bunton the latest Mama Spice, only one member of the recently reunited quintet is sans child: Sporty Spice Melanie Chisholm. In all, there are now seven Spice tots: Scary Spice Melanie Brown has two daughters (the latest with one reluctant baby daddy); Posh Spice Victoria Beckham has three boys with hubby David; and Ginger Spice Geri Halliwell has a daughter.

Bunton has fared slightly better than her cohorts in achieving solo success in the U.K., with Life in Mono, an album of cover tunes, cracking the British charts and with the former pigtailed singer placing third on last year's Strictly Come Dancing, the U.K. version of Dancing with the Stars.

She is nevertheless raring to reunite with her mates after a stint of diaper duty.

The Spice Girls kick off a monthlong 12-city world tour on Dec. 7 in Los Angeles.