Paris Hilton welcomes surprise baby via surrogate with husband Carter Reum

Paris Hilton has confirmed that she and husband Carter Reum have welcomed their first child via surrogate. 

The socialite and reality star made the surprise announcement when she shared a sweet snap of her first child - a baby boy - tiny hand clutching onto her thumb. 

Paris captioned the photo "You are already loved beyond words" followed by a blue heart emoji.

Fans and friends were quick to congratulate Paris and Carter on their new arrival, as they had been on an IVF journey since 2020.

It's understood that the couple were introduced to IVF via friend Kim Kardashian who introduced her to her fertility doctor, according to Vogue, and she wrote, "So happy for you guys!!!"  followed by a heart emoji.

Paris spoke about her newborn son with People, in a statement she said, "It's always been my dream to be a mother and I'm so happy that Carter and I found each other," it read. 

"We are so excited to start our family together and our hearts are exploding with love for our baby boy."

The baby is Paris' first child but her husband Carter has a 10-year-old daughter from his previous relationship with Laura Bellizzi.

Chrissy Teigen, who welcomed a rainbow baby with John Legend earlier this month, wrote, "A BABY!!!!!! congratulations so happy for you both!!"

Pop icon Demi Lovato wrote, "Congratulations sis!!!!"

And Jersey Shore star Snooki added, "Ah welcome to mommyhood!!!"

Paris revealed last month that she had started IVF back in mid-2020 - before Carter had proposed - after her mother Kathy Hilton claimed the pair were struggling to conceive. 

Paris said, "I have tons of embryos that are waiting, we've been stocking up on a lot of them."

Speaking about the help she got from Kim, Paris revealed at the time, "'[Kim] was the one who told me about that. I didn't even know anything about it. I'm happy that she told me that advice and introduced me to her doctor.

"So, I'm really excited to just move on for the next step of my life, and finally just have like a real life. Because I really do believe that having a family and having children is the meaning of life.

"And I haven't got to experience that yet, because I didn't feel like anybody deserved that love from me, and now I finally found the person who does."

And she revealed in September 2021 that she was thinking about baby names. 

She said at the time, "So if you have any suggestions, I'm asking my friends. I don't want a theme of cities, but I don't know — it's hard to decide. London for sure for the girl; the boy, I'm just still trying to decide on."

Paris has kept the newborn baby's name under wraps for now along with further details of the birth.