Baby on the Way for Newlywed Josh Lucas

Lester Cohen/WireImage

Home life just got sweeter for Josh Lucas.

The actor, 40, quietly got married last weekend — and he and new wife Jessica have a baby on the way, his rep confirms to PEOPLE.

Lucas revealed in January that he was engaged, saying on The Tonight Show that he popped the question after he had a scary encounter with a mountain lion while filming a movie in Big Sur, Calif.

The actor told Jay Leno that after scaring the animal away by screaming, “I worked my way into the trailer and I got in and I decided at that moment that this woman was the woman for me.”

Lucas, who starred in Sweet Home Alabama, most recently appeared on The Firm.

– Mike Fleeman and Elizabeth Leonard

Comments

klutzy_girl on March 19th, 2012

Congratulations to them! I loved Josh in “Sweet Home Alabama”. (And I’ve been in the mood to re-watch it lately. Have to do that soon.)

Kelly on March 19th, 2012

That baby is going to have amazing eyes! Congrats to them!

Rae on March 19th, 2012

beautiful couple; loved him in Sweet Home Alabama.

Anonymous on March 19th, 2012

Congrats to them!

Anonymous on March 19th, 2012

I’m confused about what he said about being engaged. Why would scaring a way a mountain lion have made him suddenly decide Jessica was the woman for him? Am I missing something???

sara on March 19th, 2012

Anonymous, people who have (perceived) near-death experiences often make major life decisions immediately afterward. As in, they realize how precious life is and realize how much they love someone and decide not to put off committing to them any longer because it could all end tomorrow.

However, given the timing, I suspect it’s just a cover for the fact that they decided to get married because she got knocked up.

Alexa on March 20th, 2012

Anon, I think he means the near death experience made him realize he doesn’t want to lose her. You know the whole “My life flashed before my eyes!” type thing.

Jillian on March 20th, 2012

Anonymous,
Maybe because he thought the animal could have have attacked and killed him and all he could think of after was how much he loved her and wouldn’t want to be apart from her. Makes sense to me! I often hear when people have scary moments like this or near death experiences they realize what’s most important and dont sweat the small stuff. After losing young children in our family, we have learned to live everyday to the fullest.

Mary

SadieA on March 20th, 2012

Anonymous, I took it to mean that he had an experience where he felt his life was in danger and when he came out of it alive, he knew he wanted to marry her. I think it just made him look at what was important in his life.

Shannon on March 20th, 2012

@ Anonymous – There are sections missing to the mountain lion story. I read the long version on another site. It probably had to be edited for space here. Jessica had warned him there might be mountain lions in the area, he shrugged it off, then he came face to face with one later. He realized she was right all along!

Congrats to them. But was it the mountain lion that prompted him to propose…or the pregnancy? hmmmm

MiB on March 20th, 2012

Anonymous II, I would say that the near death experience probably made him reevaluate what was important to him in life and luckily for his wife, he decided that she was one of the things that where important. That’s how one friend decided to get married and another decided to walk out of a relationship (though none of these cases included mountain lions, just car accidents and elevator breakdowns ).

Liz on March 20th, 2012

He is so hot! Great looking couple, congrats!!

Sandra on March 20th, 2012

Couldn’t agree more – He is SO hot AND was just wonderful in Sweet Home Alabama. His wife is one lucky lady.

And that child is going to have the most amazing blue eyes.

Anonymous on March 20th, 2012

Shannon- Thanks! I understand it better now. And as for if it was the Mountain Lion or the pregnancy, if he IS lying about the mountain lion thing, then it’s a pretty darn elaborte lie!

Also, they didn’t say anything about a due date, but she’s probably around three months along since that’s when most celebs announce. Seeing as it’s almost April now, that would mean she got pregnant somewhere around late December/early January….which likely would have been AFTER the mountain lion incident considering the fact that it was back in January when he spoke about it on Leno (meaning that the incident couldn’t have happened any later than December. And even if she WAS pregnant at the time, it likely would have been so early on that she didn’t know it yet). But who knows?!

Anonymous on March 20th, 2012

By the way, does anyone have any idea what movie that might have been that he was filming when he had the mountain lion scare? I read the full version of the story elsewhere and couldn’t find any mention of it…which just made me even more curious than I already was!

Shannon on March 21st, 2012

He reminds me of Paul Newman.