Nicolas Cage is kicking off the New Year with big family news.

The 53-year-old actor and his wife Riko Shibata, 37, are expecting their first baby together, his rep confirmed to E! News on Thursday, Jan. 6. The sex of their child has yet to be revealed.

This will be Nicolas’ third child as he is also a dad to sons Weston, 31, and Kal-El, 16, from previous relationships.

“The parents-to-be are elated!” Nicolas’ rep shared with People, who first broke the news.

The couple’s big news comes close to a year after they surprised fans by getting married in Las Vegas. Back on Feb. 16, the pair headed to the Wynn Hotel to make their union official. The groom wore a Tom Ford tux while his bride opted for a handmade Japanese bridal kimono.

“They exchanged traditional Catholic and Shinto vows with poetry from Walt Whitman and Haiku sprinkled in,” a rep for the actor told E! News at the time.

 

For those unfamiliar with Nicolas and Riko’s relationship, it may be a classic example of a love story that proves distance makes the heart grow fonder.

Nicholas Cage

Back in August 2020, Nicolas announced that he got engaged to Riko. At the same time, the coronavirus pandemic prevented an in-person proposal.

As he described on brother Marc Coppola‘s radio show, “She left New York and went back to Kyoto, Japan, and I went back to Nevada and I haven’t seen her for six months. We’re really happy together and we’re really excited to spend that time together so I finally just said, ‘Look, I wanna marry you,’ and we got engaged on FaceTime.”

He popped the question with a black diamond ring and mailed the piece of bling to Japan.

“Her favorite color is black so she wanted the black gold, and the black diamond,” he explained. “I customized and personalized it and I actually sent it to her FedEx.”

And for those wondering how these two met, Nicolas previously gave credit to mutual friends who introduced them in Shiga, Japan when he was filming Prisoners of the Ghostland. The rest, as they like to say, is history.