For The Vampire Diaries alum Candice King, expecting her third baby — her first with fiancé Steven Krueger — has been a dream come true.
“My fiancé and I are so excited. It’s such a joy,” King, 38, exclusively told Us Weekly after announcing her pregnancy on Monday, December 8, following a babymoon trip to Aruba. ”It’s something that we’re not only excited about right now. This is something we’ve been daydreaming about so it’s lovely to be here right now celebrating it.”
King revealed she’s almost “halfway through” her pregnancy. “I’m due in May of 2026,” she shared. “I know it’s kind of crazy to be at that almost halfway point. … The most important thing [for us] is a happy, healthy mama and baby. At each little milestone and appointment, that’s been a big celebration.”
While preparing for their little one’s arrival, King and Krueger, 36, found the time to bask in the exciting news with a getaway.
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“I have never been to Aruba. Now I’m like, ‘Why aren’t we all going to Aruba all the time?’ We live in Nashville, Tennessee, so it’s really close to get down to those islands,” she explained. “The travel was really easy. I would normally be the person that would be planning all of this and going above and beyond.”
This time around King prioritized relaxation, telling Us, “When we went to Japan earlier this year, it was pages of itineraries down to the hour and the minute. What we were really craving was just to relax and go somewhere close by. We wanted to go somewhere where I could feel safe and where we could feel healthy.”
The trip was extremely meaningful for the couple.
“Especially still being within that early part of my pregnancy, Aruba was just perfect. It had beaches, sun and fruit,” she gushed. “I forget how important it is to be able to be present — especially during pregnancy — when the most important thing is to wind down and really pay attention to your body, your emotional state and how important that is just to be by the water.”
King added: “[We got to] enjoy the sun, hydrate, eat the fruit and get massages. On the island, I didn’t know you could drive from the top to the bottom of the island in 40 minutes. You can really explore. But also you can just chill — and it was important for someone like me.”
King rose to fame playing Caroline Forbes on TVD from 2009 to 2017. Krueger, meanwhile, played the role of Josh Rosza on The Vampire Diaries spinoff, The Originals. During her time on The CW series, Candice started dating Joe King. The pair, who got married in 2014, expanded their family with daughters Florence and Josephine in 2016 and 2020, respectively, before their split after more than a decade together.
After launching her romance with Krueger in 2023, Candice has documented milestones from their relationship — all the way up to her current pregnancy.
“I love being a mother, it’s my favorite role,” she told Us. “There’s so many things that Steven does as a partner and as [my daughters’] stepfather on a daily basis that he already shows me how wonderful of a father he is and will be.”
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The news has brought Candice’s family even closer together.
“When we told the children together that we were having a baby, my 5-year-old said, ‘It’s my kid.’ She’s had an obsession with babies since she was a baby. Some kids throw temper tantrums in restaurants for a variety of reasons and her reason would usually be because she wanted to go hang out with the baby a few tables over,” Candice recalled. “They’re so excited and it’s been obviously something really beautiful for us all to enjoy together in this process … There’s been a lot of laughs thus far — and I imagine there will be more to come.”
This is a big year for Candice and Krueger, who announced their engagement six months ago, telling Us, “We announced in May because his birthday is in May and so is mine. We celebrated just him and I together on a trip to Japan, which was very funny to be wearing a ring and then being so excited to post photos from the trip. But I couldn’t post any of these when we still needed to share the news with family. It was really lovely to have that time together. It almost felt like our own little honeymoon.”
Looking ahead, the pair aren’t in a rush to tie the knot.
“[Wedding planning is] going well when you don’t overplan, which is really hard for me. I am very type A personality but it has been actually nice to be able to not overplan,” she teased. “We’re definitely planning something special and right now the most important thing is [my health].”
King continued: “We have our own little daydreams and ideas. It was really nice to be able to go and relax somewhere like Aruba for a babymoon. Being able to just go away with your partner and settle in and think about what’s coming. We’re so excited obviously to celebrate with our friends and family, and to be married. There’s also a lot of exciting work stuff coming up next year too. We’re relocating back up to Nova Scotia to film season 2 of We Were Liars and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. But as opposed to doing that, we are just cruising.”
