Exclusive: NBC News Anchor Morgan Radford Is Expecting Baby No. 2!
People know Morgan Radford as the co-anchor for NBC News Daily and a former face on Al Jazeera America and ABC News. But the seasoned journalist has acquired a few […] The post Exclusive: NBC News Anchor Morgan Radford Is Expecting Baby No. 2! appeared first on Essence.
Black News 
Nate Woldu 
By Elizabeth Ayoola ·Updated February 2, 2026 < /> Getting your Trinity Audio player ready… “I want her to be a culture carrier,” Radford explains. “I want her to understand language and culture, respect for elders, our history, [and] our sacrifices for freedom. That’s really important to me to pass down our cultures and protect them and help them survive through the generations.”
That desire inspired her first book. In the midst of growing another human, she was burning the midnight oil writing her novel Now Then, which will be published by HarperCollins in May 2026. The Spanish language release of the book will come a few months later, in August. The novel follows Liliana Soto Walker, a Harvard student who uncovers her mother’s secret past, fleeing the Cuban Revolution while on a journey to self-discovery. Loosely based on Radford’s life, Now Then interweaves historical events, the importance of family heritage, and how culture shapes our past and present.
The journalist describes the process of writing her novel as “a gift” and one of the most exciting things she’s done. She drew from elements of her family’s history to put pen to paper, and the book’s crafting sparked conversations around identity, race, and Blackness. Timely, considering these are conversations we’re in the thick of as a nation.
“Every day Americans are now having active discussions about our relationship as a country internationally,” she says. “And so this conversation and writing this at this time was such a beautiful way for me to be able to interact with the world and give shape to some of what is happening.”
Not only is the book an ode to immigrants and the stories they hold, but it’s also a heirloom of sorts for her children. At the eleventh hour, Morgan asked her editors to add a letter to her daughter to the manuscript.
“I think that letter is really a conversation to my daughter about why I wrote this book, what I hope the legacy of this book is to her and to the world at large,” she says. “I hope she looks at it as soon as she’s old enough to read and understand the concept of romantic love.”
Tenacity, determination, and partnership have all contributed to Radford’s success in this season. She says Williams, whom she married in Cartagena, Colombia back in 2022, supports her dreams, even if it means waking up at midnight to discuss the Cuban Revolution.
The almost-mom of two also adds, as we enter this season of love, that of all of her accomplishments, she’s most proud of how they treat one another.
“We treat each other really well. He treats me really well. He sees me, he understands me, he listens,” she says. “He’s always engaged and present. And he believes in my dreams, and he helps me strategize with my dreams.”
Radford adds, “Our partnership has really launched me. It gives me a safe place to come home to so that I can also fly and be free in the world, but always retreat to a safe place.”
Now Then is available for pre-order at MorganRadford.com.
TOPICS: black celebrity moms Books pregnancyThe post Exclusive: NBC News Anchor Morgan Radford Is Expecting Baby No. 2! appeared first on Essence.
