Milo Ventimiglia is doubling down on fatherhood faster than fans might have expected.
The This Is Us and Gilmore Girls star appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night and opened up about life as a new dad—and the exciting news that he and his wife, Jarah Mariano, are expecting baby number two.
“I know, it must be crazy, right?” the 48-year-old said. Despite assumptions that he is not getting any sleep as a father of one, Ventimiglia told Kimmel that his 1-year-old, Ke’ala Coral, is sleeping well.
“She’s actually doing great,” Ventimiglia said. “She’s sleeping through the night. She loves to wake up at 5:40 in the morning and talk to herself.”
Ventimiglia and Mariano, a 42-year-old Hawaiian-born model and entrepreneur, celebrated the announcement of their second pregnancy this month while marking Ke’ala Coral’s first birthday.
In a post on Instagram, Mariano wrote: “Happy 1 year baby girl. When you came into my life I had 2 distinct thoughts, one immediately after the other—I would die for you in a heartbeat, but now I also have to live as long as I possibly can to be around to make sure you’re safe.”
Ventimiglia also reflected on a “hard and wonderful” year. The couple welcomed their first daughter on January 23, 2025—just weeks after their Malibu home was destroyed in the devastating Southern California wildfires.
Ventimiglia spoke about how his intentions as a first-time parent were reshaped by the unexpected events.
“When you’re a first parent…you kind of think you’re going to be this, like, wonder parent,” he said. “I was striving to like, ‘Cool, man, I’m going to be the healthiest.’ ‘We’re going to feed this baby organic.’ ‘We’re going to buy blenders; we’re going to do all this stuff.’ And then, after a while, you’re like, ‘Oh, man, we had quite a year.’”
Throughout their relationship, Ventimiglia and Mariano have maintained a private personal life, tying the knot in a secret ceremony in September 2023 with only family and close friends in attendance.
Mariano, a former Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model and actress, announced her first pregnancy in September 2024 on Instagram with a playful “Baby on board!” post featuring her baby bump while sitting on a surfboard off the coast of Hawaii.
Ventimiglia, known for portraying emotionally complex characters—from Jess Mariano on Gilmore Girls to the beloved patriarch Jack Pearson on This Is Us—said his real-life role as a dad has been “richer than anything I’ve played.”
Kimmel also tried to warn Ventimiglia about how hard it is to parent a second baby.
“You just saw me, like, hard swallow, right?” he said. “But, at a certain point, don’t they start to entertain each other?”
“By entertain each other, if you mean ‘fight,’ yes,” Kimmel said.
