How Instagram Had Huge Role In Naming Christina Ricci's Daughter
Between 2020 and 2021, Christina Ricci experienced quite a few ups and downs in her personal life. In July 2020, Ricci filed for divorce after seven years of marriage to James Heerdegen (via Page Six). In January 2021, Ricci was granted a restraining order against Heerdegen on grounds of "physical and emotional abuse," according to a People report. The "Yellowjacket" star had previously been granted an emergency protective order after police responded to a domestic violence call to their Los Angeles home on June 25, 2020, Us Weekly reported at the time. Throughout their bitter divorce, Ricci and Heerdegen fought over custody of their son, Freddie, who was 5 when police were called to their home. Ricci was awarded full custody in April 2021, while Heerdegen retained visitation rights, Page Six reported.
On the heels of her chaotic divorce, Ricci found love again. Ricci hadn't been very active on Instagram, sharing just nine posts between January and July 2021, until she uploaded a photo of hairstylist Mark Hampton on July 14 in celebration of his birthday. "Favorite person, gorgeous human, bringer of all things happy, magical and good. I love you," she captioned the snap. Things moved fast from there.
On August 10, Ricci announced on Instagram she and Hampton were expecting a child. "Life keeps getting better," she wrote below the ultrasound. Two months later, Ricci announced on Instagram they had wed. Their daughter was born in December 2021 — and Ricci learned her name after Instagram did.
Christina Ricci knew about Cleo but not Cleopatra
Christina Ricci and Mark Hampton knew they wanted to call their daughter "Cleo" before she was born, but they hadn't discussed whether that would be her actual name or short for something else, Ricci said on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on January 13. When Ricci was being prepared for her C-section, she was informed by hospital staff that they had to fill out birth certificate information. The "Casper" star's mind was somewhere else, more concerned about actually giving birth, so she delegated the job to Hampton.
Hampton was still unsure about the name and asked his wife, "We're going to give her a full name, right? And the nickname is Cleo." But Ricci hadn't thought about it and asked if Cleo was short for Cleopatra. "And he was like, 'Yeah, the full name is Cleopatra.' So I was sort of like, 'Okay, fine, whatever, we'll talk about this later,' " Ricci told DeGeneres.
Hampton was so overwhelmed by emotion that he took to Instagram to announce the birth of his daughter. "Welcome to the world baby Cleopatra Ricci Hampton," he wrote. He and Ricci hadn't talked about the name yet, but it was out on Instagram, and the media picked it up. "I was like, 'I guess her name is Cleopatra,' " she told DeGeneres with a laugh. People was one of the outlets that announced Cleopatra's birth, including a screenshot of Hampton's Instagram story that showed Ricci on the operating table with Cleo.