Former NFL quarterback Philip Rivers announced last week that he and his wife Tiffany are expecting their tenth child this fall — a baby boy. The couple has seven daughters and two sons ranging from age four to 21.
“We’ve had one pretty much every two years and now this is the longest gap,” Rivers said. “We are all fired up. Everyone was pulling for a boy. Even our girls wanted a boy.”
According to Fox News, Rivers and his wife are breaking a long-standing family run of nine children, including his mother and maternal grandfather. “We thought we would be the third generation of nine, but we decided to go double-digits — or I should say we didn’t decide it. God decided.”
Rivers met his wife in junior high school, and the childhood sweethearts married in 2001. Both are devout Catholics and have been committed to using Natural Family Planning to plan their family. Rivers is also a devoted family man; when his team, the Chargers, relocated from San Diego to Los Angeles, Rivers refused to uproot them from their home. Instead, he took his work on the road with a converted SUV that allowed him to review game and practice tapes during his 90-minute commute, so he could still work and spend time with his children.
In 2019, Rivers, who calls himself “very pro-life,” brought his then seven-month-old baby girl Anna — baby number nine — to a post-game press conference, and she stole everyone’s hearts. She wore Chargers team colors as her father swayed back and forth while speaking, moving her seamlessly from arm to arm, never losing focus while Anna tried to grab the microphone. The video garnered thousands of views with comments of “LET THE BABY SPEAK.” Other commenters asked if there would be a baby number 10. Now, nearly four years later, they have that answer.
In fact, before Anna was born Rivers was asked if he and his wife were “done” having children to which he replied, “No! Heck no, I hope not!”
Following his departure from the NFL, Rivers began his coaching career at St. Michael Catholic High School where his eldest son will be the starting quarterback this season.
