Below Deck Sailing Yacht star Dani Soares says her baby's father 'needs to do more than just talk'

She gave birth to her first child Lilly Rose late last month.

And now Below Deck Sailing Yacht star Dani Soares is opening up about adjusting to life as a single mother and how involved her daughter’s father is.

The 33-year-old reality star shared with People on Tuesday that the baby’s father, whose identity she hasn’t revealed, doesn’t currently have a relationship with her new child.

Put up or shut up: Below Deck Sailing Yacht star Dani Soares, 33, told People on Tuesday that her new baby daughter’s father ‘needs to do more than just talk’ to be in her life

Dani said she’s ‘not going to force anybody to do anything’ when it comes to Lilly Rose, though she’s ‘absolutely’ fine to let the father into her life if he’s up for it.

So far, she has resisted sharing the father’s identity, but rumors have been swirling among fans that it may be her costar Jean-Luc ‘J.L.’ Cerza-Lanaux.

‘He thinks it’s not his child, he doesn’t want to have anything to do with it,’ she says of the unnamed man. 

Viewers assumed the father was one of her costars, and in a teaser for the season two reunion, host Andy Cohen even asks her if J.L. is the dad before the clip cuts off.

Absent daddy: ‘The father was part of it, I didn’t make her alone. So, if he wants to be part of her life obviously [he can]. But he needs to do more than talk,’ she said. She welcomed Lilly Rose late in May

Who’s your daddy? Fans have speculated that her costar Jean-Luc ‘J.L.’ Cerza-Lanaux might be the father, and Andy Cohen even asked her if he was the dad in a teaser for the upcoming reunion episode, though it cuts off before her answer

But now Dani says she’s trying to keep things as cordial as possible between herself and her daughter’s father. 

‘I’m not going to badmouth anybody because my daughter is going to see everything that I’m saying, everything that I’m doing and I don’t want her to see things going back and forth on social media or things being said in a moment of anger,’ she told People. 

‘As I said, the door’s always open, but you need to do more than just talk. You need to actually have some action, do some action,’ she continued.

‘The father was part of it, I didn’t make her alone. So, if he wants to be part of her life obviously [he can]. But he needs to do more than talk.’

Above the fray: ‘I’m not going to badmouth anybody because my daughter is going to see everything that I’m saying, everything that I’m doing and I don’t want her to see things going back and forth on social media or things being said in a moment of anger,’ Dani said

Although J.L. hasn’t confirmed that he’s the baby’s father, he shared in a recent Instagram post that he wants to ‘clear the air.’

‘While others are off chasing their 15 minutes of fame, I am working on a yacht in Central America and heartbroken to have to hear about the baby’s birth on social media and read headlines like “Dani Soares Says Her Baby’s Father Doesn’t Want Anything to Do With It,”‘ he wrote.

‘All I can say is if she’s mine, I want to be involved 100%.’

He added that he grew up with parents who weren’t together and ‘wouldn’t wish that on any child.’

‘Not looking for a pity party. Just want everyone to know how strongly I feel about this, especially the haters who are so sure I am neglecting my responsibility. No one wants to know more than me if this is my baby girl!’ he added.

In a follow up post from late last week, J.L. said he was looking to take a paternity test together with Dani and that he hadn’t been able to visit her or her baby because of Australia’s Covid-19 travel restrictions.

‘No, Australia isn’t open yet or I would have already gone so those of you saying ‘just go’ must not know that,’ he explained. ‘We are truly on different continents so easier said than done.’ 

Waiting on news: J.L. said he wants to be ‘involved 100%’ if Lilly Rose is his daughter in a recent Instagram post, though he hasn’t yet taken a paternity test

Have to wait: In a follow-up from late last week he explained that he couldn’t visit Dani and Lilly Rose to take the paternity test yet because Australia’s borders are closed due to Covid-19

So far, things have been ‘really, really hard’ for Dani as she adjusts to raising a child on her own.

‘It’s quite frustrating sometimes when she cries and I’m not sure what’s wrong with her,’ she admitted. ‘And I had quite a bit of problem breastfeeding, but thank God that’s solved now … I’m getting used to it now. Just the first and second weeks are really scary.’

She added that being a single mother in a pandemic is ‘definitely not how [she] imagined’ things would turn out.

‘In my head, I always wanted to meet somebody, get married and then have kids. Have a traditional “family,”‘ she shared. ‘I definitely didn’t want to move to a new country … get a job and then [have] a new baby, about to start university.’

Harder than she expected: So far, things have been ‘really, really hard’ and ‘definitely not how [she] imagined’ for Dani as she adjusts to raising a child on her own

She’s managed to get some help from friends who visited and care for Lilly Rose for a few hours at a time.

‘It’s just my work friends because I was already pregnant when I got here. So, I didn’t get the chance to go out, meet people. They are super supportive, but they are all I have,’ she said.

The reality star added that ‘as soon as the borders open’ she wants to have her mother come from Brazil to help her care for the baby. 

The star says “as soon as the borders open” she plans to fly her mom in from Brazil to help her with Lilly.

Helping hand: The star says “as soon as the borders open” she plans to fly her mom in from Brazil to help her with Lilly