White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pictured in 2025. Photo / AFP
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pictured in 2025. Photo / AFP
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has given birth to a baby girl and will take maternity leave for an unspecified amount of time.
The 28-year-old announced on Thursday that her daughter Viviana, or “Vivi”, was born on May 1. She is the first White House press secretary to givebirth whilein the job.
She wrote in a social media post: “She is perfect and healthy, and her big brother is joyfully adjusting to life with his new baby sister. We are enjoying every moment in our blissful newborn bubble.”
Leavitt gave birth to a son, Niko, three days before Donald Trump was shot during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024. The then-campaign spokeswoman decided to immediately return to work in the days after her first birth.
Leavitt is expected to take a bit longer leave this time – and has already done so in the week since giving birth – but has declined to publicly say how long she will remain away from the White House.
A White House official told The Washington Post that her exact return “is still to be determined” but that the President was to “support her taking the time she needs during her maternity leave”.
At least seven women have held the press secretary’s job since Dee Dee Myers became the first during President Bill Clinton’s presidency. Although some have had children, none were during their tenures in the job.
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