American Idol alum Constantine Maroulis and his former partner, Angel Reed, proudly showed off their 3 month-old baby girl named Malena James Reed-Maroulis. Angel and Constantine are no longer a couple, but they will do the best they can to raise their daughter.

The 35 year-old totally fell in love the minute he laid eyes on his bundle of joy. Unfortunately, Constantine cannot spend more time with his baby girl because he is working hard to be able to give her a better future and make her proud one day.

“I was to have two weeks off [from Rock of Ages] during those Christmas dates,” Maroulis explains. ”The baby came the 23rd, almost the 24th — Christmas Eve. I got there the day before. Came out, we had the baby the next day.”

“She looked like a raspberry when she came out — like a blueberry in Willy Wonka,” he laughs of his “beautiful” baby girl. “Then they swaddled her like this little Glo Worm.”

“It’s really hard [to be away], but I’m working so she can have a better life,” he explains. “One day Malena can look back and be like, ‘My dad did some cool stuff.’”

“Rock of Ages has been a huge blessing for me. I met Angel and we had Malena,” he notes. Though not currently a couple, “we’re best friends, and all our focus is on our baby.”

The Greek-American Idol wants to be the best father he can be for his child and that included to find a name suited for his princess. The name was inspired by a 2000 Italian movie titled “Malena”.

“I got tortured for my name for years. They called me Dean. To this day they screw up my name, and I didn’t want that to happen to her,” he tells PEOPLE. “I always loved the name. I’m not fond of a lot of Greek female names. James is my middle name and my father’s name. It just fit.”

Congratulations to the Idol daddy!

[images: People]