Hailee Steinfeld Reveals the Motherhood Surprise She Never Saw Coming With Josh Allen

Hailee Steinfeld makes emotional motherhood confession© X formally Twitter

Hailee Steinfeld expected motherhood to teach her about loving someone else. She says it has taught her something else too. Answering fan questions in the Nov. 6 edition of her Beau Society newsletter, the 29-year-old actress said her 6-month-old daughter, Harper, is showing her new sides of herself. Steinfeld shares Harper with her husband, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. She also joked on a recent talk show appearance that Harper might be a genius.

Hailee Steinfeld on motherhood and what Harper has taught her

Steinfeld kept her newsletter answer short, though she admitted a longer one exists. "There's a long answer, but I'll give the short one here: I've learned just how much of myself I still have to discover," she wrote. "I thought becoming a mom would be this transformative experience about loving someone else, and it is that 1000%. But what I didn't expect is how much she's teaching me about myself."

She added, "She's made me more patient, more present, and so much more aware of how special the little things are."

The actress announced Harper's arrival in April in a Substack post titled "Special Delivery." She wrote, "Our baby girl has arrived!! We're feeling incredibly grateful and blessed and savoring these early moments. Thank you so much for the love and well wishes."

Harper's crawling, Josh Allen's dad life and a name with a story

On Live with Kelly and Mark, Steinfeld described a baby who is already on the move. "She is totally on the move. This girl is crawling around. And it's so funny, it's so true with what parents have always said," said Steinfeld. "You will be convinced your child is a genius when they're doing everything right on track."

"And I'm like, 'But she's crawling already! She's gotta be a genius!' " she continued. "She's a smart cookie."

Allen, 30, has talked about fatherhood too. In July, he told E! News the name Harper came from his wife. "It was an early thought that we had," he said. "It was my wife's idea." Asked about any family meaning, he said, "She can answer that question better than I can."

He also told PEOPLE that he loves being a dad, though his sleep is "definitely not" what it was. "You learn about the unpredictability of what sleep is and just the interrupted part of it, but again, I love being a dad, and I welcome that, but when I know I can get that extra sleep and having Natrol at the ready has been life-changing for me."

Harper recently dressed as Alice in Wonderland for her first Halloween, at the late party her parents hosted for the Bills.