The singer spoke with ET at the premiere of his documentary, ‘The Greatest Night In Pop.’
Lionel Richie is looking forward to meeting his granddaughter, and he’s already got an adorable nickname planned out for himself.
The singer and American Idol judge walked the carpet at the premiere of his new Netflix documentary, The Greatest Night in Pop, and he spoke with ET’s Nischelle Turner about daughter Sofia Richie’s pregnancy journey with her husband, Elliot Grainge.
“My baby is having a baby,” Lionel exclaimed, “and I’m so thrilled for Elliot and Sophia. They are just over the moon.”
On Sunday, the expectant mom, 25, and the music executive, 30, took to social media to share the private gender reveal they pulled off. In a TikTok video, Richie is seen standing in their backyard as Grainge holds a confetti cannon with their dog watching astutely. The model and influencer, clearly giddy and impatient, counts down from three until her husband pulls the trigger and pink powder and confetti fills the air.
Lionel hadn’t yet heard that the pair had shared a video of the gender reveal, and joked, “You know, there is no secret with those two! I keep saying, ‘Keep it a secret, OK?’ But yes, that’s what’s happening. I’m so happy.”
For Lionel, being a grandfather to Sofia’s baby girl is an exciting adventure — however, he has no plans on going by “grandpa” when it comes to terms of endearment.
“I’m Pop-pop,” Lionel explained. “We don’t get the ‘grandpa,’ yeah, that’s a little deep. Pop-pop is where we’re going.”
Meanwhile, Lionel is also gearing up for the release of his documentary, The Greatest Night in Pop, which tells the behind-the-scenes story of how the famous, star-studded recording of “We Are the World” came together, and how close it came to falling apart.