‘Below Deck Sailing Yacht’ Made History (Again) When Dani Soares Said Jean-Luc Cerza-Lanaux Is the Father Her Baby
The groundbreaking season may have shattered yet another Below Deck record when Dani Soares and Jean-Luc Cerza-Lanaux from Below Deck Sailing Yacht became parents to the first Below Deck baby ever.
Below Deck crew members have become parents since leaving the series, but no two crew members have ever had a child together. During the second part of the Below Deck Sailing Yacht reunion, Soares said her steamy romance with Cerza-Lanaux resulted in her pregnancy. “Well, let’s put it this way, this baby was made during the season while we had cameras 24/7 with us and I only slept with one guy,” Soares said during the reunion.
Are Dani Soares and Jean-Luc Cerza-Lanaux are the first ‘Below Deck’ couple to have a baby?
Hannah Ferrier from Below Deck Mediterranean was the first Below Deck crew member to become a parent after being on the series. The former chief stew gave birth to a baby girl in October and has pivoted away from being on yachts. Stew Tiffany Copeland from Below Deck Mediterranean Season 1 is also pregnant and about to give birth.
Alli Dore shocked her crewmates during the Below Deck Sailing Yacht reunion when she announced she too is pregnant. Dore and boyfriend Benny Thompson moved in together and are eagerly anticipating the birth of their child.
But amid the boatmances and hookups, no two crew members have ever had a baby together … until now. Unfortunately, like a Below Deck boatmance, the road to parenthood is not smooth sailing. Despite Soares knowing that the baby was conceived while she and Cerza-Lanaux were on the show, he remains skeptical and was not present during the birth.
Is Jean-Luc Cerza-Lanaux the father of Dani Soares’ baby?
Soares never named the father of her child until the Below Deck Sailing Yacht reunion. She said despite knowing that Cerza-Lanaux is the father of her daughter, he remains out of the baby’s (and her) life. Soares said Cerza-Lanaux was initially supportive when she told him she was pregnant. But then he ghosted her and sent her a message in January. He wrote to her, “Don’t go around telling people I’m the dad of this child. And I want a DNA test.”
Cerza-Lanaux did not attend the reunion. But host Andy Cohen filmed a one-on-one with him, which is when he insisted he wants to be involved in the baby’s life … as long as she is his child. “There was talk of a DNA test,” he said. “We’ve gone as far as me trying to reach out to her doctor’s office. I don’t think lawyers need to get involved. That is not the avenue I want to go.”
He also seemed open to resolving his question about if he is the child’s father. “Dani, what we had on the show for me was real,” he said in a message to Soares. “I don’t care what anybody says, even now that we’re going through what we are going through. What I felt for you, and the time that we had, was genuine. Everything that I ever said to you was true.” Adding, “I really hope that we can co-parent together and have respect for one another like we did.”
