Erin Heatherton Celebrates First Mother’s Day Following Birth of Daughter

The model kept the pregnancy and birth quiet ahead of her May 12 announcement.

Erin Heatherton / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

American model Erin Heatherton is a new mom!

The 35-year-old made the announcement about the birth of her first child with husband Karol Kocemba on Mother’s Day. The couple actually welcomed their daughter, Eila Violet, on April 22, but Heatherton waited for her first Mother’s Day celebration to make the official public announcement.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Erin Heatherton (@erinheathertonlegit)

“Eila Violet 4.22.24 🌍 Wishing all the mamas a Happy Mother’s Day! (Pronounced eye-luh ☺️) 💕,” she wrote in the caption of her Instagram post, which featured a few solo photos of the baby and a couple of the new parents.

The model never made an official pregnancy announcement, either, waiting until after she gave birth to reveal the exciting news. She and her husband tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony in January 2023, a celebration that she described as the “best week of my life” on Instagram.

The pair had been planning their nuptials since the previous year. They initially got engaged in March of 2022, according to a post that Heatherton shared to her account.

The Illinois native established herself in the modeling industry in the mid-2000s, making a name for herself on the runways of luxury brands and the pages of well-known magazines. She served as a Victoria’s Secret Angel between 2010 and 2013 and posed for the SI Swimsuit Issue in 2015 and 2016.

Now, she lives in Chicago with Kocemba and their young daughter. Beyond modeling, Heatherton is the cofounder of Resistance Chicago Lagree, a boutique Pilates studio in Wicker Park.