Sir Salman Rushie is ‘baby whisperer’ to first grandchild, family says

Jazz singer Natalie Rushdie and her husband Zafar Rushdie announced they have called their newborn daughter Rose Anastasia Clarissa and said the baby’s grandfather Sir Salman Rushdie is “the baby whisperer”.

The couple welcomed their first child on October 9 and the author, who is Zafar’s father, was one of the first family members to meet the new arrival.

Natalie told Hello! magazine: “Holding Rose in my arms for the first time was overwhelmingly magical. I can’t explain how much I love her.

“It’s a love I’ve never experienced in my life. We feel so incredibly lucky that she is here and healthy.”

Rose is The Satanic Verses author’s first grandchild and Natalie said he met the baby after travelling from his home in New York wearing PPE for 12 hours, followed by two-weeks of self-isolation in the UK.

She said: “He is the baby whisperer” while Zafar added: “He picks Rose up and she’ll go silent and fall asleep in his arms, so we’ll definitely be using him for that.

“Hopefully he’ll offer some grandad day-care services in the future – as well as Zoom homework sessions.”

Natalie said her love of music helped make the birth, via C-section, a “magical and calm” experience, saying: “I made a beautiful playlist of all my favourite jazz songs.

“Rose came out to my favourite song I’ve Got You Under My Skin, which I sing all the time. The next song that played was our wedding dance song Nat King Cole’s Unforgettable. We couldn’t have predicted that – it was perfect.”

The full interview is in Hello!, out now.