Andie MacDowell Is Relishing Her Now Role as a Grandma — But Don't Call Her ‘Granny’
Andie MacDowell is officially a grandma! The Groundhog Day star shared the exciting news in a Tuesday appearance on The Today Show, where she gushed about her new grandbaby — and the boundaries she’s already setting in regards to her name.
After host Al Roker congratulated her “on becoming a first-time grandma,” MacDowell responded, “Oh yes, thank you!”
“Art imitating life,” he commented, referring to her new show, The Way Home, in which she plays a grandmother. But just because she’s excited about being a grandma, that doesn’t mean she wants to be called “Granny.” She’s much too cool for that.
“I haven’t decided — she can’t speak yet,” MacDowell said, when asked what her “grandma name” will be. “I’m gonna give her time. I’m thinking Nana or Grandma.”
“Not Granny!” she added, while shaking her head. Everyone laughed, and Roker assured her, “No, you’re not a Granny!”
We agree! Grandma is a classic, just like MacDowell.
The Maid star is mom to Margaret Qualley, 28, Rainey Qualley, 32, and Justin Qualley, 37, with ex husband Paul Qualley. Justin and his partner Nicolette recently welcomed their first baby together.
“My son plants fruit trees that’s how he has fun. Nicolette and Justin are down to earth in every way,” MacDowell wrote on Instagram in June 2022, along with a photo of Justin and Nicolette kissing at a baby shower. She added that they are “pure goodness in the coolest way.”
“When so much of the world is looking for attention they are looking for each other & are waiting for the perfect gift their child,” she continued. “My son never looks at his phone, he does not live a life online. He has been a blessing and a gift to me from the very beginning. The best thing that ever happened to me. AND I cannot wait to meet my granddaughter! ????”
She added, “I am so extremely grateful for my three children and their father. My children are the best part of my life. I am constantly learning from them, they are my greatest teachers. My job, my work is wonderful but my children are my life. I cannot wait to meet my sweet new grandchild. I’m so proud of all three of my children. and I love and I’m proud of sweet Nicolette too!!!”
In an Oct. 2021 interview with Bustle, MacDowell admitted that she originally didn’t want kids. “I wasn’t planning on having children,” she told the outlet. “I had a baby, [Justin], in the middle of trying to make it. But I’m so thankful that I did.”
She added about being 28, on the verge of her big breakthrough, and being a new mom. “It was interesting that I felt as good as I did because I wasn’t really getting acting jobs,” she told Bustle. “Modeling gave me great stability, but I really wanted to be a working actor. So it blows my mind that everything happened at once: I had a baby that year and my son made me feel even safer, for some reason.”
Now, she seems really close to her son and her two daughters (she acts with Margaret in Maid and recently participated in a Coach campaign with Rainey).
The whole family recently spent Christmas together, and MacDowell got to spend more time with her granddaughter.
“I’ve never had somebody look into me and see my soul like that,” MacDowell gushed about holding the newborn baby on her Today interview. “It was definitely a soul-to-soul connection.”
How adorable is that?! MacDowell clearly loves her latest (IRL!) role-of-a-lifetime.
These Hollywood grandparents aren’t baking cookies or playing Bingo — they’re in their prime of life.