Congratulations are in order for Jen Jacob (Ashley Morgan, Beyond the Gates) and her husband, musician Jesse Ruben. The two will be welcoming their first baby girl to their growing family in March of 2027 after Jacob that she is pregnant!

Jen took to her Instagram account and shared sonogram images of the couple’s little bundle of joy growing inside of her. She captioned the montage of images, “Mom & Dad have entered the chat. Baby girl coming March 2027 🩷” The post is set to the music of Thurston Harris’ “Little Bitty Pretty One.”

This marks the first child for the duo who have been married for the last 8 years and recently celebrated their wedding anniversary just last week on October 7.

Photo: JjacobIG

Ruben wrote on the occasion, “Eight years ago today, I got to marry my favorite person. Jen Jaccob, hank you for saying yes, and being the best, most patient and kind and loving partner. How lucky am I, to get to do life with you. I love doing life with you.”

BEYOND THE GATES CAST OVERJOYED

Upon the news, several of Jen’s Beyond the Gates costars were on the ready and jumped in the post comment thread including: Daytime Emmy nominee Arielle Prepetit (Naomi).“I’m gonna be an auntieeeee!! Yasss!♥️” That was followed by RhonniRoseMantilla (Chelsea), who aded, “YAYYYYY BTG BABY BTG BABYYYY💕💕💕”

Daytime Emmy nominee, Karla Mosley (Dani) wrote, “❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ love love LOVE – there aren’t enough hearts in the world.” Meanwhile, Daphnee Duplaix (Nicole) added, “Can’t wait for our newest family member!!!!” Lauren Buglioli (Vanessa) expressed: “EEEEEE!!! Aunt Lauren loves you baby girllll”

Photo: CBS

WILL THE CBS SOAP OPERA FOLLOW SUIT AND MAKE ASHLEY PREGNANT?

Meanwhile on CBS daytime’s Beyond the Gates, Ashley still remains unlucky in love. Her ex-boyfriend, Derek Baldwin (Ben Gavin) died, she had initially split with suitor Grayson Perez (Jordi Vilasuso) after the The Impaler blood plasma reveal, but now seems back together with him. Previously, Ashley had a flirtation with Andre Richardson (Sean Freeman), which could still come back around in the future.

No word yet if Ashley will become pregnant on-screen during the time of Jen’s pregnancy or if she will be hiding behind the nurses station desk to cover her baby bump at Garland Memorial Hospital.

Share your congrats to Jen and Ben on the announcement of their baby on the way via the comment section, and let us know if you think Beyond the Gates should or will, write Jen’s pregnancy into the story for Ashley?

 

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When Lawrence Saint-Victor (Carter Walton, The Bold and the Beautiful) was announced to be nominated this year at the upcoming 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards for not only Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Daytime Drama Series, but also as part of the nominated Writing Team from the CBS soap, it was a big moment in his life and his career.

As many know, Saint-Victor has been a veteran of soap opera since back in his early days as Remy on the now defunct Guiding Light. Fast-forward to some 17 years later since the conclusion of GL, and Lawrence is nominated in a year that is a breakthrough for Black performers and creatives behind the scenes in the soaps, which for decades was never the case in daytime television.

With the advent and launch in 2025 of the first Black-led hour-long daytime drama, Beyond the Gates locking down 15 nominations going into Emmy night on October 30 and a host of other writing and acting nominees, the tide seems to have shifted. It’s something Saint-Victor hopes will continue for years to come.

Photo: JPI

THE TIDE HAS TURNED

Speaking with Ebony, Lawrence shared on his dual nominations, “I’ve sat with those thoughts and feelings for some time, thinking about what these nominations mean to me, especially as the first Black man in daytime to be nominated for acting and writing in the same year.”

Saint-Victor is nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Daytime Drama Series: Actor alongside: Sean Dominic (Nate, Y&R), Mike Manning (Smitty, BTG), Michael Graziadei (Daniel, Y&R), Roger Howarth (Matt, Y&R), Timon Kyle Durrett (Bill, BTG).

On his journey in soaps, Lawrence explained, “So many Black men and women, both in front of and behind the camera, pushed the door open and kept pushing so that I could walk through. They fought to be seen, heard, and given an opportunity. I don’t take for granted that I get to stand on the other side of those doors now. And I believe it’s my responsibility — as well as the responsibility of my brothers and sisters in this industry — to keep pushing. That feels especially important to me as a writer.”

MORE WORK TO DO FOR INCLUSIVENESS

Lawrence added, “Representation can’t exist only in front of the camera. Our perspective and our experiences need to be present in the work too. Our experiences are not one thing. Black people are not one thing. We are romantic. We are funny. We are angry. We are heroic. We are flawed. We are sexy. We are vulnerable. We are complicated. We still have a lot of work to do, but we have also come so far.”

Win or lose, Lawrence believes this will be a moment for inclusiveness, celebration, and to inspire: “The fruit of the fight to be heard is coming to harvest. I am a leading man in a leading story on my show, and I’m also a writer on that very show AND I stand on the shoulders of giants. Our voices are being heard. I want to make sure that continues.”

The 53rd annual Daytime Emmys will be streamed on the official Emmys You Tube Channel as well as streamed on the official website The Emmys via watch.theemmys.tv.

So, have you been thrilled to see how the door has opened for Black representation in front of the camera and behind the scenes at your favorite daytime soaps? What do you think about Lawrence’s dual nominations heading into Emmy night? Share your thoughts on the state of the soaps via the comment section below.

It was back in episodes of June of 2025 that saw the undoing and ultimate death of Natalia Rogers-Ramirez after complex and poignant scenes delivered by soap opera vet, Eva LaRue on General Hospital. Prior to her demise, Sonny (Maurice Benard) had Natalia believing they were going to head out of the country and set up their lives together, only for Sonny to pull out at the last moment after learning of all of Natalia’s deception.

Throughout her run on GH, LaRue’s Natalia became one of the most hated characters of the year, especially because of the character’s bigotry against her own gay children, Marco (Adrian Anchondo) and Blaze (Jacqueline Grace Lopez), and that she was revealed to be the ex-wife of Jenz Sidwell (Carlo Rota). But even with all that, Eva triumphed and secured a Daytime Emmy nomination going into the 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards on October 30 in the Outstanding Guest Performance in a Daytime Drama Series.

LaRue faces tough competition from the other nominees that include: Christopher Sean (Paul, Days of our Lives), Jasmine Burke (June Hughes, Beyond the Gates), Jeff Kober (ex-Cyrus Renault, General Hospital), and Ray Wise (ex-Ian Ward, The Young and the Restless).

Photo: NATAS

EVA LARUE SCORED HER FOURTH EMMY NOMINATION

Now, on a new Sunday, October 11 edition of Maurice Benard’s mental health series, State of Mind, the two former co-stars talked about LaRue’s fourth Daytime Emmy nomination. She previously won an Emmy for her work as as Celeste Rosales on The Young and the Restless in this same category in 2020, and was nominated three other times including this year.

The others were for co-writing the song, “Dance with You Again” for All My Children in 2004 and in 1997 in the Supporting Actress category her role as Mario Santos on the beloved ABC soap opera.

Speaking on her nomination, LaRue says it’s Maurice who was truly helped her deliver her performances. “I only have a nomination because of you,” she said to the three-time Daytime Emmy winning Lead Actor. “You said to me that you were going to get nominated.” Eva added, “God bless the writers because they wrote some fantastic stuff for me to go out on.”

Maurice responded, “You had levels in your work that day that we did those scenes. But you were on fire!”

Photo: ABC

MAURICE BENARD’S BOLD EMMY PREDICTION

Explaining the category she is nominated for to Benard, LaRue said, “I’m nominated for Outstanding Guest Performance in a Daytime Drama Series. So (the category) was those of us who were like not on contract, but we were there for a while. I mean now, I feel like that guest thing is so much more competitive than it ever was, because so many of the soap operas are taking people off contract, which then throws them into the Guest category.”

Benard, who shares he has great Emmy karma predicting the acting awards on daytime’s biggest night, made his bold 2026 prediction sharing his pick. “I would say you’re gonna win (to LaRue). And I would say if not, it’s between you and somebody else. There’s no reason why you wouldn’t win for the ‘Guest’ category.”

You can watch part 1 of the conversation between Eva LaRue and Maurice Benard on State of Mind below. With part 2 being released next Sunday on October 18.

Now, let us know, do you think Eva has a chance at grabbing the gold for her work as Natalia-Rogers Ramirez on General Hospital? Would you like to see her win? It’s been a very heavy time for Eva after just recently losing her brother. Let us know your thoughts via the comment section.