Life

Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black announce birth of second son Phoenix

By Conor Clark

5th April 2023

Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black have announced the birth of their second child with a subtle announcement in The Times newspaper.

“Black-Daley on 28th March to Thomas Robert Daley and Dustin Lance Black, a son, Phoenix Rose,” the listing said in the ‘births’ section.

The couple, who got married in 2017, had kept news they were expecting again a secret.

Their first son, Robert Ray, was born in 2018.

Tom and Dustin announced his birth in the same way they did Phoenix.

“BLACK-DALEY On 27th June 2018 to Thomas Robert Daley and Dustin Lance Black, a son, Robert Ray,” The Times announcements read.

In a social media post at the time, Tom shared a black-and-white photo of Robert’s feet and wrote: “27/06/18. Welcome to the world our precious little Robbie Ray Black-Daley. The most magical moment of my life. The amount of love and joy you have brought into our life is immeasurable. Our precious son.”

Dustin, who shared an image of him and Daley holding the baby, wrote: “Welcome to the world little Robbie Ray. Thank you for bringing so much love and light with you. And thank you to those who helped make our dream of having a family into this wonderful reality.”

After the birth of their first child, Tom explained why he and Dustin opted to go through the surrogacy process in the US instead of the UK.

READ MORE: Tom Daley: Stepping up as sport’s leading LGBTQ+ voice for change

“We looked into it in the UK and in the US. In the UK it’s a lot more complicated because surrogates aren’t as well protected legally, intended parents aren’t protected legally, it’s just not safe, there’s a lot of hurdles to have to jump over,” he said.

“In the US, everything is regulated in a way that keeps everyone safe and in the US the surrogacy process is a lot more streamlined.”

“For as long as I could remember, I have wanted to be a parent”

Last year, the Olympic diver told the Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast how much he had always wanted to be a father.

“For as long as I could remember, I have wanted to be a parent,” he shared.

“I think because of the relationship with my mum and dad, we were so close and then, when I lost my dad, it was like, I want to be everything that he was to me to someone else.

“Because every child deserves to have what I had with my dad because it was such a special relationship, we were so close.”