Meghan Trainor revealed she had a custom doll made in her own likeness to help her 5-year-old son Riley cope with separation anxiety.
The “All About That Bass” singer, 32, shared the sweet solution in an Instagram video posted Thursday, showing Riley interacting with the stuffed mini-me that features her short blond hair, glasses, and signature smile. Trainor explained that her eldest child had begun assigning maternal roles to his existing toys before she decided to create something more personal.
“My sweet 5-year-old boy is having separation anxiety,” Trainor shared via Instagram. “So he’s started using his stuffies, his Smurfette, and was like, ‘This is Mama, this is Mama,’ and I thought, ‘I’ll make a mama, I’ll make a stuffie that looks like mama.'”
“The thing is, I did,” Trainor admitted in the clip, holding up the doll for viewers. “And he loves it. He kisses it, he hugs it.”
The Grammy winner then turned her attention to Riley, who ran over to her as she filmed. “Showing off your mama doll,” Trainor said. “Aw, you love it? You think this looks just like me?”
“Yup,” Riley replied before running away.
Trainor continued with a self-deprecating joke about the doll’s accuracy. “She’s even got my thin hair, do you know what I mean?” She told viewers. “Kinda looks like me, dude!”
The “Lips Are Movin'” singer shares Riley, 5, along with 3-year-old son Barry Bruce and 6-month-old daughter Mikey Moon, with her husband Daryl Sabara, 34, the “Spy Kids” actor she married in 2018. The couple welcomed Mikey via surrogate in January after Trainor’s previous pregnancies involved complications including blood clots and gestational diabetes.
Trainor’s candid sharing about Riley’s emotional needs comes during a period of significant family adjustment. The singer had been scheduled to launch her “Get in Girl” tour in June, but canceled the entire 33-date run in April citing the demands of her expanding family.
“Balancing the release of a new album, preparing for a nationwide tour and welcoming our new baby girl to our growing family of five has just been more than I can take on right now,” Trainor wrote via her Instagram Stories at the time. “I know this will come as a disappointment to my fans and I am so sorry to let you down. But I know this is the right decision for my family and me right now.”
The canceled tour would have kicked off in Clarkston, Michigan, on June 12 and concluded in Los Angeles on Aug. 15. Trainor’s sixth studio album, “Toy With Me,” arrived in April without the supporting live dates she had initially planned.
In the viral moment that sparked her latest share, Trainor’s lighthearted approach to Riley’s separation anxiety resonated with fans who flooded the comments with support. “It does look like you though,” one follower wrote, while another suggested, “We need these as merch.” A third commented, “If y’all aren’t the cutest family, lol.”
Trainor has previously spoken about the intensity of her bond with Riley as he has grown older. When he was 20 months old, she said that he “finally knows who I am, and he gives me those running hugs. It’s like my little koala. He just squeezes me so tight, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, he knows who I am, and he loves me.'”
The “Dear Future Husband” singer captioned Thursday’s doll reveal with a simple “🫣” emoji, letting the footage of Riley’s enthusiastic response speak for itself.
Trainor and Sabara, who met in 2014 and began dating two years later, have built a family-focused public persona since welcoming Riley in February 2021. Barry arrived in July 2023, and the couple turned to surrogacy for their third child after medical consultations determined it was the “safest way” to continue growing their family.
“Surrogacy is just another beautiful way to build a family,” Trainor said in January following Mikey’s birth. “We had endless conversations with our doctors in this journey and this was the safest way for us to be able to continue growing our family.”
Trainor is expected to appear at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas.