Thomas Beatie’s wife, according to media reports from the mid-2010s, is Amber Nicholas, whom he married after his divorce from his first wife, Nancy Gillespie. Beatie became internationally known in 2008 as “the pregnant man” after sharing his story as a transgender man carrying a child, and he went on to give birth to three children during his first marriage.
This profile covers both marriages, his family, the legal battle over his divorce, his book and media work, and what is known (and not known) about his finances today. We have kept to details reported by reputable outlets and left out claims that could not be confirmed.
Thomas Beatie quick facts
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Born | January 20, 1974, Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Known for | Being one of the first transgender men to share a pregnancy publicly (2008) |
| First spouse | Nancy Gillespie (married 2003; separated 2012) |
| Later spouse | Amber Nicholas (per media reports) |
| Children | Three, born in 2008, 2009 and 2010 |
| Book | Labor of Love: The Story of One Man’s Extraordinary Pregnancy (2008) |
| Estimated net worth | Not disclosed; rough estimates vary widely by source |
Who is Amber Nicholas?
Amber Nicholas is a private person, and most of what is publicly known about her comes from news coverage of Beatie. Reports in the mid-2010s described her as working in early childhood education and said the couple had become engaged and later married. She has not sought a public profile of her own, and she rarely gives interviews.
Because so little is on the record, many details that circulate online (exact wedding dates, how they met, where they live now) are not reliably sourced. The safest summary is that Nicholas became Beatie’s partner after his first marriage ended and has been described in coverage as supportive of him and his children. Whether they remain married today is not something either has discussed publicly in recent years.
His first marriage to Nancy Gillespie
Beatie married Nancy Gillespie in Hawaii in 2003, after he had legally changed his gender marker to male. Nancy had already had children from a previous relationship and was unable to carry another pregnancy after a medical procedure. Because Beatie had kept his reproductive organs during his transition, the couple decided that he would carry their child.
He paused testosterone therapy and conceived through artificial insemination with donor sperm. The couple later moved to Oregon, where their family life drew worldwide attention once Beatie went public.
The children
Beatie gave birth to a daughter in 2008, followed by two sons in 2009 and 2010. The couple raised the three children together. Out of respect for their privacy, we are not naming or discussing the children beyond what their parents chose to share publicly when they were infants.
Separation and the landmark divorce case
Beatie and Gillespie separated in 2012, by which point the family was living in Arizona. The divorce became a legal story in its own right. In 2013, an Arizona family court judge declined to grant the divorce, questioning whether the marriage had been valid in a state that did not then recognize same-sex marriage, given that Beatie had given birth.
Beatie appealed. In 2014, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that the marriage was valid, since it had been lawfully entered in Hawaii with Beatie legally recognized as male, and that the family court had jurisdiction to dissolve it. The case is often cited as an early example of courts grappling with transgender people’s legal status in marriage and parenthood.
How Thomas Beatie became known worldwide
In early 2008, Beatie wrote a personal essay for The Advocate, an LGBTQ magazine, describing his pregnancy. The story spread quickly, and a few weeks later he appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, which turned it into a global news event. He later gave interviews to major outlets, and documentaries followed his family.
He was not the first transgender man ever to become pregnant, but he was the first to receive this scale of public attention, and the label “the pregnant man” stuck. The coverage was mixed: many people found the story moving, while others reacted with hostility. Beatie has said in interviews that he wanted to show that the desire to have a family is not tied to gender.
Early life
Beatie was born in Honolulu on January 20, 1974, and was assigned female at birth. He has described growing up with a sense that his gender identity did not match how others saw him. As a teenager he took part in local beauty pageants, including a Miss Hawaii Teen USA competition, an experience he has referenced when describing the pressure he felt to fit expectations. He later transitioned in his twenties, including chest surgery and hormone therapy, and changed his legal gender to male in Hawaii.
Book, media and public work
- Memoir: Labor of Love: The Story of One Man’s Extraordinary Pregnancy (2008) tells his story from childhood through his first pregnancy.
- Television: Interviews on The Oprah Winfrey Show and major news networks in 2008 and after, plus documentaries about his family.
- Speaking: Talks and media appearances on transgender parenting and family rights.
He has not held a high-profile formal role with a major advocacy organization, and claims that he has won specific awards are hard to verify. His influence comes mostly from visibility: his story pushed questions about transgender parenthood into mainstream conversation years before they became common topics.
Thomas Beatie’s net worth
Beatie’s net worth has never been disclosed. Celebrity estimate sites offer figures anywhere from several hundred thousand dollars to around $2 million, but none cites verifiable financial records, so treat any number as a rough guess. His known income sources include:
- Royalties and advance from his memoir
- Fees from interviews, documentaries and speaking engagements, mostly concentrated around 2008 to 2014
- Ordinary employment and small business work outside the media spotlight
Media attention peaked more than a decade ago, and a long, expensive divorce and custody process would have affected his finances. That context suggests caution about the higher estimates.
Why his relationships attract so much interest
Searches for “Thomas Beatie wife” usually come from people who remember the 2008 headlines and want to know what happened next. The answer is a fairly ordinary life story told under unusual scrutiny: a marriage, three children, a divorce and a new relationship. Public curiosity about the partners of well-known people is common; our profiles of Gina Torres’s husband and Heather Rae Young’s husband look at how other public figures have handled that attention.
What sets Beatie apart is that his family life became part of a broader legal and social debate. Questions his case raised, about how the law recognizes transgender people’s marriages and their roles as parents, have since been addressed more directly in many jurisdictions. In the United States, the 2015 Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges made marriage equality national law, removing the specific question that stalled his divorce.
Common claims to treat with caution
- “He was the first man ever to give birth.” Other transgender men had given birth before 2008; Beatie was the first to become a worldwide news story.
- Exact net worth figures. No reliable financial disclosure exists, so precise numbers are guesses.
- Detailed claims about Amber Nicholas. Specific facts about her career, background or current life are rarely sourced and often copied from one site to another.
- Awards and formal titles. Lists of honors attributed to him are generally unverified.
Life away from the headlines
In recent years Beatie has kept a much lower profile. He has given occasional interviews, but he has largely stepped back from media, and his children are now teenagers. Readers looking for current details should be wary of sites that present specific recent facts about his home, job or relationships without sources. For a different kind of family profile, see our piece on Misha Ezratti’s wife.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Thomas Beatie’s wife?
Media reports from the mid-2010s identify Amber Nicholas as his wife after his divorce. His first wife was Nancy Gillespie, whom he married in 2003.
How many children does Thomas Beatie have?
He has three children, a daughter born in 2008 and two sons born in 2009 and 2010. He carried and gave birth to all three.
Why was Thomas Beatie’s divorce controversial?
An Arizona judge initially refused to grant the divorce in 2013, questioning whether the marriage was valid. In 2014 the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled it was valid and could be dissolved.
What book did Thomas Beatie write?
He wrote the memoir Labor of Love: The Story of One Man’s Extraordinary Pregnancy, published in 2008.
What is Thomas Beatie’s net worth?
It has not been disclosed. Online estimates range from several hundred thousand dollars to about $2 million, but none is based on verified records.
