All About Fergie and Josh Duhamel's Son Axl Duhamel

Fergie and Josh Duhamel are devoted parents.

The former couple welcomed son Axl Jack in August 2013 – just four years before they announced their decision to divorce. Fergie and Duhamel finalized their divorce in November 2019 and have embraced co-parenting as working parents.

The “Big Girls Don’t Cry” singer opened up to reporters in January 2018 about her experience in maintaining a healthy balance between motherhood and career.

“As any hard-working mom knows, it’s a delicate balancing act that I have to juggle all the time with different schedules, family schedules, work schedules,” she explained. “I have to have boundaries all the time. I have so much on my plate that sometimes I’m just a tired mom!”

Today, Axl, who his mom describes as “funny [and] outgoing,” exploring his interests. He took acting lessons, appeared in one of Fergie’s music videos, and played various sports.

Read on to learn more about Fergie and Josh Duhamel’s son, Axl.

He is a Virgo

Fergie with her son Axl Duhamel.

Fergie’s Instagram

Fergie and Duhamel welcomed Axl on August 29, 2013, weighing 7 lbs, 10 oz.

Fergie told PEOPLE in April 2013 that she felt a range of emotions about her pregnancy, saying that “it was easy, it was hard — it was everything.” After all, the singer described her pregnancy as “very happy”.

At the time, Fergie praised Duhamel for his aptitude as a father-to-be, telling PEOPLE that he “will be an amazing father” and has “natural parenting instincts.” During her pregnancy, Fergie said Duhamel was “amazing,” adding, “He’s so sweet and wonderful, and he sings and talks to my belly all the time… I’m so happy he’s really good to me.”

He was named after Axl Rose

Axl Rose from Guns N’ Roses; Fergie with her son Axl Duhamel.

Amy Sussman/Getty; Fergie’s Instagram

Fergie and Duhamel drew inspiration from the Guns N’ Roses frontman for their son’s name. When Axl was 3 months old, she told Ellen DeGeneres the story of how his name came up in an episode The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

“I dreamed I was in the audience at this festival,” DeGeneres said. “Jim Morrison sang on stage, then Bob Marley came, then Axl Rose. I was in heaven in this dream. I dance and just get into the music and suddenly BOOM! BOOM! And I wake up and that’s the first time my son kicked me in the stomach and it’s like he felt the music with me. I started to cry.”

Fergie said she woke Duhamel from his sleep to tell him the details of her dream. By then, Fergie and Duhamel had already decided on his middle name, Jack, after Fergie’s late uncle, who had died the year before. Duhamel cycled through various versions of the name based on Fergie’s dream artist. When it came to “Axl Jack,” Duhamel told her it was the name for their son.

“He just had this ring,” she added.

Fergie also has a special nickname for her son – Punky Pie – “because he loves pumpkin pie!”

Fergie and Duhamel kept their son’s name a secret until his birth

Josh Duhamel with his son Axl Duhamel.

Josh Duhamel’s Instagram

Before Axl was born, Fergie and Duhamel kept Axl’s name a secret from everyone, including Fergie’s family.

“Some people might not like it, some people might think it’s cool, but we don’t really care — that’s why we’re not telling anyone,” the actor told PEOPLE in July 2013. “We’re not even [Fergie’s] mom because we don’t want to hear anything about it. That way you won’t feel like you’re second-guessing yourself. It’s between us — it’s a sacred thing.”

Duhamel thought he was going to have a daughter

Josh Duhamel and son Axl attend the 2016 TOMS/Oceana Partnership Celebration.

Randy Shropshire/Getty

Duhamel recalled the moment he and Fergie found out she was expecting their first child together during a January 2023 interview. Fatherly. The A shotgun wedding star found out Fergie was pregnant via a phone call from their nurse, describing the moment as “pure joy”.

“I thought for sure I was going to have a daughter because I have three sisters, I have a cat, a dog, females are all around me, so I figured I was going to have another one,” Duhamel said. “When she said boy, it was like it didn’t register. It was one of the greatest moments of my life.”

His parents put him first

Josh Duhamel and Fergie with son Axl Duhamel in 2017.

Josh Duhamel’s Instagram

Since Fergie and Duhamel divorced in 2017, the former couple have been raising their son together. In the weeks following their split, Fergie opened up Conversation about how she and Duhamel raised their Axl.

“I love Josh,” she said. “We did it. Currently we both work full time. We just make it happen. We have Axl and we’re just busy parents.”

Duhamel told Dax Shepard in a December 2018 episode Armchair expert podcast that despite the couple’s eventual divorce, their relationship evolved positively as they settled into the routine of co-parenting with Axl.

“Fergie and I had a great relationship,” he said. “I love that girl and always will. Unfortunately, we didn’t work. But I will always protect her and she is the mother of my baby.”

He’s a big brother

Axl became a big brother in January 2024 when Duhamel and his wife Audra Mari welcomed a baby boy named Shepherd Lawrence.

Ahead of Shepherd’s arrival, Axl was “very excited” to meet his sibling.

“I don’t think he really understands that it’s actually real. He will when he sees this little thing in front of him. I think I’m probably the same,” Duhamel said on Living with Kelly and Mark in September 2023.

He added that Axl had hoped to name his brother Gary.

Josh won’t push Axl into acting

Josh Duhamel and son Axl Jack Duhamel attend the 2019 Los Angeles premiere of The Lego Movie 2: Part Two.

Michael Tran/FilmMagic

Although Duhamel has been an actor for almost three decades, he doesn’t mind if his son doesn’t follow in his footsteps. Duhamel said Hey! News in March 2023 that although Axl was interested in a wide range of hobbies, which included acting, he would not “push him towards anything”.

“I’m just trying to expose him to a bunch of different things,” Duhamel said. “I know for sure he’s very creative. He’s a great little draftsman. He loves his little drama class where the plays are done, but, you know, who knows? He could be an engineer. He likes to tinker with a pile of recycled junk.”

Duhamel said Fatherly that Axl seems to gravitate toward acting as a career, adding, “He loves it. He’s in his little theater class; he likes to do it.”

“He can do whatever he wants when he’s old enough,” he added. “But he’s not going to be a child actor. He’s not going to audition or get an agent or anything until he can do it himself. I want him to be a child.”

He appeared in his mom’s projects

Fergie and son Axl Duhamel visit SiriusXM Studios on September 25, 2017.

Slaven Vlašić/Getty

Like Duhamel, Fergie allows her son to follow his passions and interests without pushing him towards a particular career. His creative pursuits don’t just include drawing and drama classes — Axl also has a musical side.

“Axl sings around the house all the time,” Fergie said on ITV Lorraine. “He starred in one song, ‘Enchanté’ — it was honest because I brought the song home and listened to it, and he started singing it.”

However, she stressed that “she would never let him do something he didn’t want to do,” adding: “He had fun with it. I just put my phone on record and when I brought it home and played it for him, he said, ‘That’s me!’ ”

Even as a child, Fergie said Axl responded to music. She told PEOPLE that when Axl was a child, she and Duhamel wrote “little songs” and sang songs to their son. She explained: “He responds very well to the songs. He starts kicking and smiling, trying to make noise and sing. It’s great. He loves our songs!”

Over the years, Axl has come on set with his mom, sitting in on tapings of the short-lived singing competition Four. He also made a small cameo in the music video for Fergie’s song “A Little Work”, which the singer called a “really natural” decision.

“We were only planning to film it whether he wanted to come or not — I just missed my son and wanted him to come on set!” she said, adding that he was “totally into it.”

He is interested in sports

Fergie, Axl Jack Duhamel and Josh Duhamel attend a baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2016.

Noel Vasquez/GC Images

Duhamel raised Axl to be a sports fan like him. Over the years, Axl watched football games at home with his dad and went to several Los Angeles Dodgers games.

The Life as we know it the actor told DeGeneres in February 2018 about how both he and Fergie introduced their son to different hobbies. The actor explained: “He’s in a hip-hop class and I’ve also got him in tee-ball starting this week, which is going to be great. Mom dresses him in hip-hop clothes, I dress him in tee-ball clothes.”

When Axl turned 9, Duhamel said his son finally took an interest in sports. He told PEOPLE in March 2023: “He’s finally starting to get into it. I didn’t think he would ever get into it, but now he really loves basketball.”

“He likes to throw the ball with me a bit. I try not to be overbearing with him in the sport, but I try to let him find it, not me pushing him on him,” he added. “It took him a long time and it was actually kind of frustrating, because I thought he was going to be like me, but he’s getting there. He loves it.”

Josh wants him to know his roots

Josh Duhamel and his son Axl Duhamel.

Josh Duhamel’s Instagram

After growing up in North Dakota, Duhamel wanted to instill in his son a love for his home state. Duhamel told PEOPLE in February 2016 that he hopes to help Axl understand his Midwestern roots despite living in Los Angeles.

“I took him with me this summer; he was 2 years old,” Duhamel said. “It was an opportunity for me to spend eight days with him just traveling around. But I wanted to give him an idea of ​​who I am. Where I’m from is part of me, so it’s also part of him. We got to see every relative we have as we went through the country. It was really special to share with him.”

When Axl was younger, Duhamel would take him back to North Dakota several times each year, telling PEOPLE that it was important to him to get Axl “excited about outdoor adventures.”

Axl embraced his outdoorsy side from an early age, and Duhamel told DeGeneres that at one point, his son started collecting sticks. He explained: “He collects sticks and to him they are something. He doesn’t want to go anywhere without them because they’re either a sword or a wand.”

Fergie says she’s “leaving”

Axl Jack Duhamel.

Fergie’s Instagram

In honor of Axl’s 10th birthday in 2023, Fergie shared rare snaps of her son on Instagram, including silly and serious photos of Axl in recent years. In her short but sweet caption, she described Axl as a “caring, fun, outgoing, sweet, smart, talkative, creative super hero enthusiast.”

She continued: “Happy 10th birthday punky!!! I love you Axl Jack.”

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Source: HIS Education