‘American Idol’ Winner Just Sam Announces Surprising Life Update 5 Years After Show

Alyssa Norwin August 1, 2025, 1:03 pm

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It’s been five years since Just Sam was named the winner of American Idol Season 18. Since then, they haven’t had much luck pursuing a career in music, but they did have a big life update to share with fans this summer.

On July 16, Sam announced that they were pregnant. They posted a sonogram photo, positive pregnancy test, and mirror selfie showing off their growing baby bump.

Sam, 26, revealed that they were previously told they “may not be able to carry children of [their] own” or may have had to try IVF for a successful pregnancy. “The past couple of years, I have been trying on and off and let me tell you .. I was really starting to lose hope,” they continued. “These past few months have been scary having to be in and out of the hospital, but being past viability week is such a great feeling and does bring a little relief to me.”

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They admitted that they’ve been “wanting this for so long,” adding, “I’m beyond grateful and beyond excited to be on this journey and path to MOTHERHOOD!!!” Days later, Sam posted a gender reveal and confirmed they are having a baby boy. They also posted new baby bump photos on July 25.

Before winning American Idol, Sam was making a living busking in the New York City subways. They revealed in 2023 that they had returned to busking to make ends meet, despite winning the singing competition just three years earlier.

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“I was disappointed in myself for allowing myself to fall so low after winning idol, but then I had to take it easy on me and remember that I started my journey with Idol at 20 years old,” Sam wrote in a now-deleted post, per The Sun. “Not even knowing anything about Hollywood or the music industry. Since then, I have learned so much and I’ve been able to take my experiences and share them with other artist in hopes that they don’t experience the same things that I did when It comes to making it in this life.”

They admitted that they “didn’t know what to do with the win, especially being that [my grandmother and I] had absolutely no help.” They also promised to “answer those questions” about “what happened” someday.