If you think you're having a banner year so far, let me direct your attention to someone who's taking killing it to the next level: Mahershala Ali. He's already in every project you loved in 2016, and he has a baby on the way as well. So when is Mahershala Ali's wife due? Is there a chance that the power couple will take home an Oscar and an infant in the same night? It would be an incredible coincidence, and the actor has yet to share a specific due date, so it's impossible to predict in advance. However, the timing could potentially work out. One way or another, 2017 is definitely the year Ali becomes a dad, so it's a very exciting time for the star of Moonlight, Hidden Figures, House of Cards, and Luke Cage. (As if it wasn't already, with a resume like that.) Update: On Friday, the news broke that Mahershala Ali's and his wife welcomed their child Bari on Feb. 22, 2017.
Earlier: Ali and his wife, the artist Amatus Sami-Karim, met as students at New York University. Ali told ELLE in 2014 that the pair had known each other for about 16 years before getting married in 2013.
And it seems like they weren't in any more rush to start a family than they had been to tie the knot. After three years of marriage, Ali quietly announced their couple's happy news with a simple photo of the pair, captioned with Sami-Karim's name, that he posted to Instagram on Dec. 2. The shot shows her with her palm on her belly, emphasizing a baby bump that's just beginning to show, as she and her husband gaze proudly into the camera.
Even though Ali hasn't gone on the record about a due date, it's possible to speculate based on the timing of the announcement. First of all, most parents-to-be wait to share the news that they're expecting until the pregnancy has cleared the first trimester. That's at least 12 weeks in, so it's safe to assume that Sami-Karim has crossed that threshold.
Then there's the fact that according to Baby Center, most first-time moms start showing 12 to 16 weeks into their pregnancy, on average. Every woman is different, of course, and there's no way to know when the photo was taken. But, if we take the average date women start to show, 14 weeks, and assume that's how far along Sami-Karim was at the beginning of December when the photo was posted, then she is likely due in... February 2017.
If you plug my math into a pregnancy calculator, entering 14 weeks at Dec. 2 would mean Sami-Karim is currently in the midst of her 40th week. That's when the pregnancy is officially defined as full-term, and the Academy Award ceremony on Feb. 26 would land solidly in her 41st week of pregnancy. In other words, it isn't out of the question that Ali could win an Oscar and become a father in the very same night. I am officially on the edge of my seat.
