Who is Caleigh Ryan? All about HARDY's wife as the couple welcomes their first child

Singer HARDY and his wife, Caleigh Ryan, welcomed their first child, a baby girl, on March 7. Caleigh made the announcement two days later, on Sunday, March 9, 2025, sharing a slideshow of pictures, including one of the baby girl bundled in her cradle, a family portrait, and a close-up of her cheeks.

The caption of Caleigh's post also revealed that the couple had named the little girl Rosie Ryan Hardy. The comment section of the post was filled with congratulations from friends and fans.

Caleigh Ryan is a 28-year-old who was born and raised in Encinitas, California. Daughter to Michael Ryan and Sheri Seastedt Ryan, Caleigh enrolled at the University of Mississippi after graduating from high school. At the university, she studied Marketing and Corporate Relations. Per a CountryNow article (published on September 28, 2023), Ryan also landed a job in the hospitality industry as a Marketing Coordinator at Graduate Hotels in Nashville.

The couple met on Instagram in 2018, got engaged in 2021, and tied the knot the following year.

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HARDY slid into Caleigh Ryan's Instagram DM in 2018

According to People magazine, HARDY first came across Caleigh Ryan's profile on Instagram's For You section and sent her a DM. The couple started talking on the social media platform soon afterward, while Ryan was a still a third-year student at the University of Mississippi. The One Beer singer told the media outlet:

"We kept in contact until I had a show nearby her school and told her I'd love to meet her there."

HARDY's show was at the The Lyric Oxford — a venue near Caleigh's college campus. While both of them were initially nervous about meeting each other for the first time, they soon became inseparable.

HARDY and Caleigh started dating in April 2019. Ryan said about their chemistry:

"Once we met each other, there really was no one else. We never entertained anyone else. It was just so easy."

Ryan told People that while the couple had brought up the subject of marriage at the very beginning of their relationship, her education and career were her priorities at the time.

After dating for three years, the singer popped the question to Caleigh on August 23, 2021, at the same spot where they first met — Mississippi's Lyrix Oxford Theater. The country artist shared the announcement on social media, captioning the post:

"I'm not her boyfriend anymore."

Roughly a year later, on October 29, 2022, the couple tied the knot at Diamond Creek Farms in Nashville in front of 350 of their closest friends and family.

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HARDY calls his wife his "biggest critic"

In 2020, when HARDY was promoting his debut album, A Rock, he teased that his toughest critic is also one of his biggest inspirations lyrically. The Wait in the Truck singer told People at the time:

"We've been together for over two years, so now she's my biggest critic. She's not going to hold back, and she's going to tell me if she loves it."

The couple has also stood through their highs and lows together. In October 2023, the Country singer opened up about suffering from "serious anxiety" on Instagram, causing panic attacks that led him to be hospitalized. At the time, Ryan took to her Instagram story to thank fans for their support for her husband's mental health, writing:

"It can be really scary to put intimate pieces of your life out there, so thank you for being so understanding with my hubby."

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The couple first announced that they were expecting in an Instagram post in October 2024, sharing her maternity shoot pictures with the caption:

"You have been our favorite little secret to keep. Baby HARDY coming February 2025."