A rough childhood and a low profile: Inside Leighton Meester and Adam Brody's relationship.

Leighton Meester, 34, and Adam Brody, 40, have welcomed a second child into their family. 

Brody confirmed the news of their baby boy on Twitch last week for Hold the Phone TV's The Fun Time Boys Game Night Spectacular. 

"I have a new kid. Since last I played, I have a new kid," he shared. "I have a boy, and he's a dream. He's a dream boy."

The couple, who have been married since early 2014, are yet to share their second child's name.

Here's everything we know about their notoriously private lives, including Meester's upbringing and how the pair met. 

Leighton Meester's rough childhood.

Leighton Meester was born in 1986 while her mother was in prison. In 1983, her mother, Constance, was arrested after helping smuggle shipments of marijuana out of Jamaica. Constance's then-boyfriend (Meester's father) was part of the smuggling ring, as was her sister and her father.

New York Magazine reports after their arrest, Constance's sister broke out of prison, becoming the first woman in America to find herself on the U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted List.

Meester was born in a hospital, she has clarified in many interviews, and not in the confines of a prison cell.

Her mother had to serve sixteen months in federal prison after her birth and Meester was transferred to a halfway house for the first three months of her life. After that, she was sent to live with her grandmother until her mother's release. Her parents soon divorced.

Leighton Meester in 2003. Image: Getty. 

“My family has a crazy history. Probably the craziest I’ve ever heard of,” she told Marie Claire in 2012, giving a rare insight into her childhood. “I look back now and I see it in a nice light. It wasn’t uncomplicated, but I played outside, I went to the beach. There were happy, fun times.”

"My mum lived through a lot before I was born, and I can't judge her on that. She and my dad are good people.

"Look, I could've turned out a lot worse."

Though as Meester's career grew, her relationship with her mother began to deteriorate. In late 2008, it was reported the mother and daughter ended their informal business relationship. Meester did, however, commit to sending her $7,500 every month to care for expenses regarding her younger brother - particularly medical costs.

Three years later, the actress filed a lawsuit accusing her mother of misusing the funds to pay for cosmetic surgery for herself instead of paying for her brother, Lex's medical care. A slew of lawsuits followed, with Constance counter-suing Meester. Ultimately, the actress won the court battle against her mum in 2012. 

Leighton Meester and Adam Brody's relationship. 

It's understood that Leighton Meester, who starred as Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl, and Adam Brody, who played Seth Cohen on The O.C., first formed a close friendship when filming 2011's The Oranges. 

However the two didn't romantically date until February 2013, according to US Weekly. 

Adam Brody and Leighton Meester in 2012. Image: Getty. 

The couple, who share a six-year age gap, didn't publicly confirm or comment on their relationship for months, but were spotted by paparazzi several times showing PDA.

In November 2013, after less than a year of dating, news broke that the couple had become engaged, although neither commented on the rumours. 

By February 2014, they married in a private wedding in Northern California. No wedding photos of their special day have ever been publicly released. 

In the same year, Meester told InStyle magazine that privacy was one of her main priorities. 

"My values have shifted greatly in terms of what I find important," she explained. "It's my family, my friends and having a personal life. Those are the things that need nurturing."

In 2019, Brody briefly spoke about his relationship with his wife in an interview with GQ.

"She's more inherently private than I am. I don't seek publicity but if I'm sitting next to you on the subway, I'll tell you everything about me. We're homebodies. We don’t go to a lot of things that perhaps we could, and don’t seek out promotion in that way."

He continued: "I’m not sh**ting on anyone who monetises that aspect of their life because I get it. But we’ve found this great balance so far that really works for us. We’re also not very active on social media."

The same year, Meester and Brody both starred in ABC's Single Parents. When asked by The Hollywood Reporter what it was like to work with her husband, she replied: "He’s my best friend. I wanna work with him on everything, and I think he’s the best in everything." 

Leighton Meester and Adam Brody on parenting.

Adam Brody and Leighton Meester have been married for six years. Image: Getty. 

In August 2015, a year after their wedding, Leighton Meester and Adam Brody welcomed their now-five-year-old Arlo Day. 

At the time, neither Meester nor Brody confirmed the news and they've never shared a public photo of her. 

In 2017, Meester briefly mentioned her family life in an interview with Refinery 29: "I don't talk about Arlo very much. I am very proud of that area of my life. But I'm also really proud of the show, and of the work I do," she explained. 

"I think the perception is: You're an ingénue, or you're an icon, or you're a mum. There's no in between."

In 2018, Meester told Glamour that "nobody can tell you what parenthood is going to be like".

"You think you know, and then it's just so hard. I feel so, so lucky that I have help and a husband."

After working together on the aforementioned Single Parents, Meester told Entertainment Tonight that their daughter wasn't too happy about them both working at the same time. 

"Our daughter was like, 'You've been at work for so long.' It's like, I've been here for one day," she shared. 

"She's like, 'Both of you guys can't work at the same time.'"

Ultimately, it seems that despite Leighton Meester and Adam Brody's public profiles, they'll always keep their private lives, well, private.  

Feature image: Getty.

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