Celeb roundup: Carice van Houten gives birth, Robb Stark breaks up with girlfriend

Carice Van Houten, best known to Game of Thrones fans as Melisandre, has given birth. And no, it was not a shadow baby. Houten and partner Guy Pearce, whose fires do not apparently burn low, welcomed Monte Pearce Monday, their first child, into the world this morning.

There were no shadow baby jokes immediately after the birth—this is a happy time—but snark ruled the pregnancy. It came from Pearce himself…

…and from van Houten’s Game of Thrones costar Liam Cunningham (Ser Davos Seaworth).

Ser Davos was, as you’re remember, present at perhaps one of the strangest births in the history of Westeros. Either way, congratulations are in order to the happy parents!

And in less happy news, Richard Madden (Robb Stark, our last King in the North) has split with girlfriend Laura Whitmore, an Irish MTV personality. According to The Independent, the couple had been quietly dating for several months, but the romance “simply fizzled.” According to The Independent’s source:

"They’ve both been really busy. Laura is presenting and getting ready for Strictly Come Dancing and Richard has been performing onstage in Romeo and Juliet. They ended up hardly seeing other."

Well we certainly hope that Madden is able to find love soon; his last couple relationships haven’t ended very well.

And last but not least, in an effort to promote the Atlantic Coast Conference Digital Network, college football stars from the conference were quizzed on who was alive and who was dead on Game of Thrones. They know rather a lot.

Linebackers Zaire Franklin and Micah Kiser, from Syracuse and the University of Virginia respectively, nailed a slew of characters. Kiser, displaying an impressive command of detail, even noted that the Mountain had died but come back as FrankenMoutain. “So he’s kinda dead.” Defensive End Ken Ekanem rattled off the long list of House Stark family members who have met their makers. And then everyone is asked who they think will end up on the Iron Throne. Syracuse Head Coach Dino Babers chose Daenerys Targaryen.

"How can you lose when you got dragons on your side?"

Indeed, coach. We are all wondering the same thing.

h/t The Daily Mail