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After years of fertility struggles, Bill and Giuliana Rancic welcomed their first child together, a baby boy named Edward Duke Rancic, on August 29, 2012. Their son, who goes by Duke, was delivered in Denver, Colorado, via surrogate, and the parents’ excitement was clear, with Bill posting on X, “G & I feel blessed beyond words…We did it!” As Giuliana would later tell People in 2024, “It was such a hard time in our lives when we were going through IVF and even opening up about it.” That’s why she considered becoming a parent and having a healthy child nothing short of a blessing. “We’re so lucky,” she enthused.
As Duke grew up, he brought his parents even more happiness than they had imagined. “He’s a good kid. He’s always laughing,” Bill told People when Duke was 2. “Just the happiest kid I’ve ever met.” Although he appeared on his parents’ reality show and made the cover of Life & Style at only 2 weeks old, Duke’s exposure to the public has steadily declined. Bill and Giuliana have continued to share occasional details about his childhood while carefully protecting most of his private life. Here’s what is known about their son.
Duke Rancic was involved in cord blood banking
Giuliana Rancic’s journey to motherhood was marked by profound challenges. The television personality has openly discussed undergoing IVF, experiencing a miscarriage and eventually turning to a gestational carrier. After years of emotional and medical difficulties, Duke Rancic was born. Giuliana told E! News that she held their son first, while Bill cut the umbilical cord.
Because of their difficult path to parenthood, the couple chose to preserve Duke’s umbilical cord blood through the Cord Blood Registry. The new parents also wrote about the decision for People in an effort to explain the potential benefits to other families. They said Giuliana’s sister had banked the cord blood stem cells of all four of her children and that they had first heard about the process more than a decade earlier. “It was a no-brainer for us,” they wrote, adding that although they hoped never to need them, Edward Duke’s stem cells would be available if necessary. According to the registry’s website, cord blood stem cells can be used to treat 80 conditions and counting.
Duke Rancic was the reason his parents left reality TV
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The Rancics’ marriage became a public story when “Giuliana & Bill” premiered on the Style Network in 2009. The series, which later completed its seven-season run on E!, offered viewers an unusually close look at their relationship and its less conventional moments. Their struggle to become parents became one of the show’s most meaningful storylines. When Duke was born in August 2012, cameras documented the experience, including the delivery room.
Duke appeared in two additional seasons of his parents’ series, though Giuliana said they had initially debated whether to put him on camera. Speaking with “Today,” she explained that it felt unusual to share their fertility struggles without allowing viewers to see the child who came from that journey. Bill said Duke might appear for one or two seasons, and the couple ultimately kept to that plan.
When “Giuliana & Bill” ended in 2014, Giuliana said the decision centered largely on their son. “We needed to pull back a little bit just because our son is 4,” she told The Huffington Post. She did not want cameras following Duke to preschool or recording every milestone before he was old enough to have a say. While she left open the possibility of filming again someday, she added that the family wanted to protect him in the meantime.
Duke Rancic was raised away from technology
Even while building highly visible careers — including launching a podcast in 2026 — Bill and Giuliana have emphasized the importance of being present for Duke. In a 2014 interview with Psychology Today, Giuliana said she was working to separate her professional and home lives so she could give her then-1-year-old son her full attention. That meant putting away her phone and turning off her computer, a habit Bill was also trying to adopt. Two years later, she shared a backyard photo with Duke on Facebook, writing that it was nice to put down their phones and reconnect.
Giuliana’s approach to limiting technology also shaped the way she raised Duke. In a 2019 blog for educational toy company Learning Resources, she cautioned that screens can easily become a pacifier. Instead, she encouraged families to turn to educational play and STEM toys. The Rancics had replaced some of Duke’s screen time with hands-on science experiments, which Giuliana said helped him learn about the real world in an enjoyable, engaging way.
He inspired the Rancic family’s move to Chicago
Duke was only 10 months old when he appeared with his parents on “Today” in 2013. Bill said the family intended to limit his television exposure to roughly one or two years. He also made clear that the long-term plan was to raise Duke in Chicago, where the boy would attend school and remain away from the Los Angeles-Hollywood scene.
The couple followed through in 2015, announcing that they would make Chicago their permanent home. The move came as Giuliana’s career faced mounting controversy and shortly before she temporarily left “E! News,” but she insisted the decision was motivated by Duke’s needs. She told ABC News that he was beginning to notice when she was away and that it was the right time to slow down. She also told People that Duke was about to start school and needed stability, friendships and a consistent community rather than a life spent moving from city to city.
Duke Rancic speaks multiple languages
Soon after the family settled in Chicago, Giuliana offered OK! a glimpse into their new routine. She said 4-year-old Duke was adjusting well to the city and developing fresh interests. He loved singing, played a small guitar and was also enjoying the process of learning languages.
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By that time, Duke was learning Italian, Spanish and English, and Giuliana told People that his accent was “amazing.” She spoke Italian to him because it was the language she grew up using at home. In a 2009 interview with Stay Tuned, she said she had never spoken English to her parents. Bill supported the family’s multilingual household and even hired a tutor so he could communicate with his in-laws.
Duke’s linguistic curiosity extended beyond those three languages. Bill told People that a woman who helped the family spoke Albanian, and Duke began singing in the language as well. Giuliana applauded his ability, while Bill said his son had an exceptionally good ear.
His education focused heavily on STEM
At age 6, Duke’s enthusiasm for STEM toys became one of the interests Giuliana shared publicly. In her 2019 post for Learning Resources, she said he especially enjoyed Beaker Creatures and that his interest in science had appeared early. Giuliana also viewed his curiosity as a family trait, noting that Bill’s parents were teachers and that Duke seemed to share their love of learning.
For his seventh birthday, Duke reportedly wanted a 3D printer — a more unusual request than the typical gift for a child his age. Giuliana said he often took gadgets apart to understand how they worked and asked questions like a young engineer. The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry and the Public Library Maker Lab became favorite destinations. In keeping with his interests, the Rancics chose a school program that focused on STEM for half of each academic year.
Duke’s schedule was not limited to science and technology. Giuliana said he might attend coding class one day and basketball practice the next, allowing him to stay active while continuing to develop his mind.
The Rancics put their son to work at age 11
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Bill and Giuliana also entered the hospitality business in a major career expansion. In 2012, while both were still prominent in their respective careers and three years before Giuliana left “E! News” amid controversy, they partnered with Chicago’s Melman family to open RPM Italian. The restaurant initially seemed like an unexpected venture, but more than a decade later, RPM remains in operation and has expanded to additional locations and cities, including Las Vegas and Washington, D.C.
The culinary venture would also eventually offer a learning opportunity for the next generation of Rancics. Speaking with Page Six in 2024, Bill shared how a then-11-year-old Duke Rancic was getting an early taste of his parents’ hustle. “He’s starting to work at the restaurants a little bit here and there,” Bill revealed. He explained that he wanted to teach Duke the importance of hard work. “I tell my son, ‘Put your head down, keep your mouth shut and let your actions speak louder than your words,'” Bill said, musing, “That’s in everything — in sports, in school, everything.”
Duke Rancic loves working on fashion with his mom
As a toddler, Duke’s favorite subject was airplanes. His nursery featured the aircraft, and Giuliana told LA Mag in 2015 that he loved visiting Santa Monica Airport. At an airplane museum there, he could sit inside a real cockpit, push buttons and hear the aircraft’s sounds.
As Duke moved from reality-TV baby to teenager, his early fascination with planes developed into a broader interest in STEM. He also showed a creative side through fashion. In 2019, when he was 6, he and Giuliana worked on a gender-neutral collection for Abercrombie Kids. Giuliana told People that Duke helped select colors and offered opinions on the designs, adding that he enjoyed the entire process.
That interest continued into his tween years. In 2024, Giuliana told People that she once returned home to find Duke surrounded by products from her HSN collection. He asked her to film him on her phone while he presented her skincare line, then joked, “Make sure it gets on TV.”
Does his future include Hollywood?
Duke Rancic spent the first few years of his life in front of the camera, but as his parents told “Today” back in 2013, they had no plans for him to stay in the limelight long-term. As Giuliana Rancic revealed, she and Bill Rancic were against their son having a career in Hollywood. “If he goes to medical school or law school, then he can do whatever he wants after he has the degree,” Bill joked about the possibility of Duke becoming an actor.
Bill doubled down on his stance when he spoke to ABC News that same year, underscoring the fact that once the family moved to Chicago, Duke would no longer be filmed for TV. “He’s not going to be a Hollywood kid, I can promise you that,” Bill said, adding that he planned to give Duke as normal an upbringing as possible. “My son’s going to have a job,” he vowed. “And if he wants to get a car when he gets his license, he’s going to pay for it on his own like I did.”
Even so, it seems Duke may not have gotten the memo because in 2018, Giuliana told E! News how her then-5-year-old loved to watch her interview celebs on the red carpet. He was especially drawn to her bedazzled mic, which he asked her to bring home. “Maybe he’ll be the next Jason Kennedy,” she quipped.
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