Real-Life Hallmark Couple Welcomes Baby: ‘Doing Amazing’

Heavy Real-life Hallmark couple Kat Barrell and Ray Galletti just welcomed a new baby.

It’s a girl! Real-life Hallmark couple Kat Barrell and Ray Galletti are the proud parents of a baby girl, Barrell revealed via social media on May 29, 2024.

In an Instagram photo of their family’s hands — including one puppy paw and the little hand of their two-and-a-half-year-old son, Ronin — Barrell wrote, “And then there were five.❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️”

The photo was nearly the same as the image Galletti posted when Ronin was born in September 2021, including the paw of

Celeste Monique Barrell Galletti was born at 4:33 p.m. on May 21, Barrell told her followers. According to The Bump, the French and Italian name Celeste has Latin origins, meaning “heavenly,” which may be why Barrell also added in quotation marks, “You are made of stardust. Fear Nothing.”

Galletti and Barrell, who married in 2017, per Yahoo Entertainment, co-starred in the March 2024 Hallmark rom-com “Shifting Gears” alongside Tyler Hynes, who has praised Barrell for pushing through intense sickness as they filmed the movie in October 2023. Barrell also dealt with an undisclosed issue in her third trimester that forced her to stop traveling, so she thanked her fans and friends for all of their support along the way in her post.

“Thank you all so much for the love and support you have sent our way over the past few weeks,” she wrote. “Everyone is doing amazing. 🥰”

Kat Barrell Was ‘Very Sick’ Filming ‘Shifting Gears’ Early in Her Pregnancy

HallmarkRising Hallmark director Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe consults with Kat Barrell, Tyler Hynes, Steven Vlahos, Carlisle J. Williams, and Ray Galletti on the set of “Shifting Gears”

In March, during a Facebook Live session to promote “Shifting Gears,” Barrell and Hynes talked about how sick she was during filming and he marveled at her ability to push through regardless.

“It was not easy,” Barrell said, estimating that she was nine or 10 weeks along when they began filming. “I was very sick when we were shooting this movie. I was really sick. I was at the early stages of my pregnancy and I was very nauseous.”

“I also caught whatever, this horrible flu-cold thing, that was going around,” she recalled, explaining that she had a fever and felt terrible but couldn’t take any medicine for it given her pregnancy.  Luckily, she said, she felt very “supported” by the “accommodating and understanding” cast and crew, including Hynes.

“I’m so grateful for how kind and just complimentary, encouraging and understanding you were of the whole process,” she told Hynes. “And for me not being able to, you know, maybe show up how I always wanted to or maybe having to be a bit more quiet or having to lay down, it was really so awesome to feel supported in that, so a very public thank you.”

Hynes praised Barrell, too, saying it was the “understatement of a lifetime to say that the fact that you were able to do all this as well as you did is such an achievement.”

He continued, “Being able to turn in this kind of performance, with this kind of responsibility and schedule? Like, there’s only a few times, I think, somebody gets challenged like that.”

She said having her husband on-site helped, too. Galletti played the part of Wayne Laroche, the host of a car restoration reality competition that pits Hynes and Barrell’s characters, who were formerly a couple, against each other. In an Instagram post before the movie premiered, Galletti  said it was the first time in 10 years they’ve appeared on screen together.

Hynes said, “What a beautiful thing that Ray, this really talented actor who — no one else could do this part — also happens to be on this movie when you guys are gonna have this moment, you’re gonna have this time capsule of this experience, when you guys got this news. I just thought, ‘This is crazy!’”

Toward the end of Barrell’s pregnancy, also dealt with some pregnancy complications. She was forced to cancel all travel plans, she told her Instagram followers on April 20, explaining why she could no longer attend the Earp Division Expo, a New York fan convention devoted to the Syfy series “Wynonna Earp,” in which she played Nicole Haught throughout the series’ 2016 to 2021 run.

“I am pregnant and very close to the end of the pregnancy,” Barrell said in her video for fans from her home in Canada. “We just found out some things about the baby and the pregnancy this week that mean that I cannot leave the country, basically, just for baby’s health and my health. I have to stay here, it’s not safe for me to leave anymore.”

Hallmark Stars Excitedly Celebrate Kat Barrell & Ray Galletti’s New Baby

On Barrell’s Instagram baby announcement, lots of fans and friends left congratulatory comments, including some of her and Galletti’s Hallmark co-stars.

“Signed, Sealed, Delivered” star Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe, who directed “Shifting Gears” as part of Hallmark’s Make Her Mark initiative, wrote, “Omg!! Congrats❤️❤️❤️”

Lowe’s SSD co-star, Kristin Booth, who also appeared in “Shifting Gears,” commented, “Omg!! Congratulations to you all!! This is crazy! It feels like just yesterday we were all in Ottawa filming!! So happy for you! Welcome little baby girl!❤️”

Catherine Bell, Barrell’s co-star on Hallmark’s “Good Witch” series, wrote, “Awwww congrats!!! 🎊”

Ashley Newbrough, who co-starred with Galletti in 2023’s “Flipping For Christmas,” left the comment, “😍 Ah congrats beautiful family!!!”

The next Hallmark Channel airing of “Shifting Gears” is scheduled for June 22 at 6 a.m. Eastern time.