Top 30 Funniest Ways TV Shows Hid Pregnancies
Huh, is that a baby bump we spy? Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most creative ways that tv shows worked around real-life pregnancies.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Magical baby transplants? I didn't believe it either, but then I ate nine ice cream sundaes from noon to three.
00:07Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most creative ways that TV shows worked around real-life pregnancies.
00:15This will not include any series where an actor's pregnancy was directly written into the show as a character pregnancy,
00:21even if it played out in a funny way.
00:23Okay, you ready to push again?
00:25I already had a baby, leave me alone.
00:28Number 30, Marsha Cross, Desperate Housewives.
00:32What do you do if an actress has a particularly taxing pregnancy?
00:35You may logically consider writing her character off for the season, or simply postponing the shoot.
00:41The creators of Desperate Housewives had a different plan in mind.
00:44Surprise!
00:49Guys, what did I tell you?
00:52When star Marsha Cross became pregnant with twins, and was subsequently placed on bed rest,
00:57the hit melodrama moved their production to her place of residence.
01:00They initially tried to use boxes, blankets, and all sorts of other props to hide the actress's growing baby bump,
01:06but as time went on, Brie was eventually given a fake pregnancy plot.
01:10This plotline allowed Cross to move more freely within her scenes,
01:14and provided some juicy drama when the secret finally came to light.
01:17I guess you won't be needing the breast pump I bought you.
01:21Number 29, Betsy Brandt, Breaking Bad.
01:24Throughout Breaking Bad's first two seasons, Skyler White is pregnant with her and Walt's second child,
01:29a daughter they name Holly.
01:31Actress Anna Gunn was not pregnant at the time these seasons were filmed,
01:34but ironically, Betsy Brandt was.
01:36What? We can't just ignore a potential clue, Hank.
01:41Okay, what are you talking about?
01:43Brandt plays Skyler's sister Marie, who is known more for shoplifting than child rearing.
01:49While Brandt's midsection was hidden with a few well-placed bowls, purses, and pillows,
01:53her bare baby bump does get a chance to shine on screen, as Skyler's.
01:58In order to add a bit of authenticity to Gunn's faux pregnancy,
02:01the series used close-up shots of Brandt's real belly.
02:07Number 28, Katherine Bell, Jag.
02:10Pregnancy plays an important role in Jag's eighth season,
02:13as Lieutenant Singer is discovered to be expecting a child and charged with conduct unbecoming.
02:18In real life, however, it was actually Katherine Bell,
02:21who played Sarah Mack McKenzie, who had a bun in the oven.
02:24That's a bit melodramatic, Lieutenant.
02:28Not a crime to be pregnant, Colonel.
02:30No, but it is to get that way aboard a naval ship.
02:33To have two different characters going through the same situation would have been overkill,
02:37so Mack was seen carrying boxes and sitting behind desks
02:40throughout most of the actress's pregnancy.
02:42This changes in the season's multi-episode finale,
02:45in which Mack is assigned to go undercover as a pregnant woman.
03:01It may initially seem a bit tongue-in-cheek for a serious show like Jag,
03:05but it plays surprisingly well,
03:07strengthening the bond between Mack and her fake husband, Clayton Webb.
03:1227. Krista Miller – The Drew Carey Show
03:15When Krista Miller became pregnant,
03:17her character Kate O'Brien was just beginning a relationship with the show's title character.
03:21The pair even disagreed on whether or not they should move in together,
03:24so introducing a baby to the equation was entirely out of the question.
03:28I want to do it the old-fashioned way, you know, after we're married.
03:31It's going slow enough as it is.
03:32If we don't hurry it up, how much people are going to be passing us by?
03:36I'm taking it slow because this is the most important relationship of my life.
03:40In order to conceal Miller's growing belly,
03:42the show obscured her with blankets, cookware, and even a clown costume.
03:47The sole exception to this rule was in that season's annual April Fool's Day special,
03:51titled What's Wrong With This Episode 3?
03:54I couldn't catch him, Drew.
03:57Maybe the medical scam will work on Kate.
03:59Miller's pregnant stomach was counted among the episode's many mistakes
04:03and clearly pointed out in later airings.
04:0626. Alison Court – The Big Comfy Couch
04:10Lunette has been played by two actresses in The Big Comfy Couch's history,
04:14but will likely forever be associated with Alison Court.
04:17She played the character for five seasons
04:19before taking a six-year hiatus to live a relatively normal life,
04:23in which she primarily did voice work.
04:25When she returned to The Comfy Couch, Court was married and, yes, pregnant.
04:34Although the show occasionally blocked her growing stomach with props,
04:37her regular costume was often good enough on its own to obscure the pregnancy.
04:41An alternate holiday costume also got an episode of play,
04:44completely swallowing her figure.
04:46We always wear our best clothes on a big holiday like the Big Bang Boom, right, Ma?
04:51Unfortunately, Court was unable to film any clock segments during this time,
04:55forcing the use of archival footage,
04:57which showed off the clown's comparatively trim frame.
05:0025. Julie Bowen – Modern Family
05:03If you're a fan of Modern Family,
05:05you may know that one of its stars almost missed out on being part of the close-knit clan.
05:09While auditioning for the role of Claire,
05:11Julie Bowen was pregnant with twins
05:14and was certain that her obvious baby bump would lose her the job.
05:28Luckily, they saw past her pregnancy
05:30and decided to simply cover up her stomach for the show's pilot.
05:33On a first watch, it may have appeared as though Claire had an obsession with laundry.
05:38But for those in the know,
05:40the actress' strategic placement of pillows, baskets and towels
05:43becomes an extended joke in itself.
05:57This Cheerio-turned-Glee Club member had plenty of charm,
06:00but was notoriously lacking in the smarts department.
06:03Or so it seemed.
06:05When Heather Morris became pregnant towards the end of Glee's fourth season,
06:08the showrunners chose to write Brittany off by sending her to MIT.
06:19In an unexpected twist,
06:21the character is revealed to be a secret genius,
06:24on par with Albert Einstein.
06:26Considering she had just been struggling with being held back earlier in the season,
06:30this reveal is a bit hard to believe.
06:32But it's so hilariously absurd that we eventually come to accept it anyway.
06:37In true Glee fashion, Brittany eventually tires of being a math whiz
06:41and returns to McKinley within a year,
06:43rendering the entire plot point useless.
06:56The producers on The Cosby Show had to get extremely creative
06:59when Felicia Rashad, who played matriarch Claire Huxtable,
07:02became pregnant during the filming of season three.
07:04Instead of incorporating her pregnancy into the plot,
07:07they decided to make some interesting prop, set design, and storyline choices.
07:16In one scene, Rashad can be seen holding an absurdly oversized teddy bear in her lap.
07:21In Denise Gets a D,
07:23her character remains in bed for the entire episode due to a pinched nerve.
07:35In reality, it was to prevent her stomach from being seen.
07:38They even raised the height of the homestead's kitchen counter
07:41for her to strategically hide behind.
07:47While it's typically not good to judge a book by its cover,
07:50sometimes your initial instinct about a person is completely justified.
07:54In Monk, Natalie's gut tells her that Paul Buchanan is a grade-A creep,
07:59and she could not be more right.
08:01Luckily, she is able to dodge his advances with a clever cover story.
08:05She claims she's pregnant, ostensibly stuffing a pillow into her shirt to sell the story.
08:18Of course, behind the scenes, there was no need for trailer Howard to put on a fake baby bump,
08:22as she already had one of her own.
08:24Throughout the episode, Howard was staged behind car doors, desks, and bedding,
08:29hiding a stomach that would later feature in this clever inside joke for fans.
08:45When actress Roxanne Dawson became pregnant,
08:47the writers behind Star Trek Voyager had no intentions
08:50of making her half-human, half-Klingon character B'Elanna pregnant.
08:53Thankfully, science fiction allows for some creative loopholes.
09:00He would never do anything to harm his own child.
09:03Though the series wasn't above hiding Dawson's belly in other episodes,
09:06the two-part episode The Killing Game took advantage of her condition in a unique way.
09:11In this story, the Voyager is kidnapped by the Hirogen,
09:14and its crew is given new identities in a simulated version of 1940s France.
09:19B'Elanna's simulation character is called Brigitte,
09:22and appears to be pregnant with the child of a Nazi captain.
09:25Once the Hirogen's trickery is revealed,
09:28B'Elanna amusingly notes that the fake baby feels a little too real for comfort.
09:45When actress Ellen Pompeo became pregnant during season 6,
09:48the medical drama resorted to the usual tricks to hide her growing bump.
09:54She was given baggy outfits, hidden behind large objects,
09:57and of course, there were the obligatory shoulder-up-only shots.
10:01However, as the bump became harder to hide,
10:03they created a storyline that worked both to hide her pregnancy,
10:06and later explained her absence when she went on maternity leave.
10:09Meredith Grey undergoes surgery to donate part of her liver to her estranged father,
10:14leaving her on bed rest.
10:18The story might have seemed far-fetched to some, but at least it served its purpose.
10:28During season 4, both female leads of this sitcom were expecting,
10:32but for now, we'll only be focusing on Cobie Smulders.
10:35As any fan of the show knows,
10:37Robin not only doesn't want kids,
10:39but also later learns that she can't have them either.
10:43The show's executive producer and co-creator Craig Thomas
10:46said that after she shared her happy news,
10:48the writers decided to find, quote,
10:50a way to write around it or have fun with it.
10:58And the further along she got,
11:00the bigger the props they hid her behind.
11:03Director Pamela Freiman even joked that they had, quote,
11:06the biggest purses of any show on the air.
11:15Deborah Messing was pregnant during the show's sixth season,
11:17and attempts to cover it up were deemed laughable by the fans.
11:21Grace is known for her tight-fitting outfits,
11:23so it was pretty obvious when she suddenly switched to wearing
11:26exaggeratedly baggy clothes.
11:28And did you notice she spent an awful lot of time on the couch?
11:31Many critics and even fans called the sitcom out
11:34on its lackluster attempts at the time.
11:36If somehow you still managed to miss all the signs,
11:38then you were probably left quite confused
11:41when Grace suddenly was missing during the final few episodes of the season.
11:45Oh, Grace didn't call you? Oh, she's not coming.
11:51You know, Ray, could you at least look at me
11:53before you settle in for three hours of television?
11:56Patricia Heaton had to hide her pregnancy not just once,
11:58but during two different seasons of Everybody Loves Raymond.
12:01Okay, so see, this is a family.
12:05To cover this up, she would often be shot sitting at a table,
12:08covered by a blanket, or wearing a lot of loose clothing.
12:11However, in the season one episode Why Are We Here,
12:14we get a flashback as Debra and Ray try to remember
12:16why they moved across from his parents in the first place.
12:19Taking place three years earlier,
12:21we see Ali as a baby and Debra pregnant with the twins.
12:24But the bump we see is actually Heaton's third child.
12:27Grab me the ice cream, will you?
12:38Although both Cynthia Nixon and her character Miranda
12:41were pregnant during the show's run,
12:43when SJP was expecting in season five,
12:45it just didn't make sense for her character Carrie to be pregnant.
12:48Wow, you don't look so bad.
12:53So instead, they used Carrie's love of fashion
12:56to cover up her growing bump, to varying degrees of success.
12:59Although there are definitely moments
13:01where it's impossible not to see her belly.
13:03They also decided that rather than the usual 18 average episode season,
13:07they would cut the season short to accommodate the actress.
13:10Thanks for bringing that up.
13:12Some fans even thought that the baby made a cameo as Aiden's kid,
13:15but Sarah Jessica Parker has since set the record straight on that.
13:18Look at you.
13:19Look at you.
13:20I had a baby.
13:21I have a date.
13:26Fans of this political thriller were so amused
13:28with the countless creative ways that the series hid Washington's pregnancy
13:32that calling them out almost became like a game to them.
13:39In season three,
13:40her character was hidden behind random objects like lamps,
13:43monitors, other characters, vases,
13:45and of course, her big Prada purse.
13:48They also relied on big coats or capes
13:50and some very creative camera angles
13:53to keep her pregnancy out of sight.
13:57But I have some questions about yours.
13:58I thought you trusted Jake.
13:59This is a bad idea.
14:01It's how I can stay.
14:02Even Washington saw the funny side of the team's efforts.
14:04She told Good Morning America that, quote,
14:07you could play a really fun game for the first five episodes of Find the Bump.
14:10You'll have to suspend your campaign activities
14:12at least for a few days out of respect.
14:17What do you do when your actress is so far along
14:19that you can no longer rely on large objects
14:22and carefully planned camera angles alone?
14:24Well, when Gillian Anderson was pregnant
14:26during the second season of The X-Files,
14:28they had Scully abducted by aliens.
14:30They're seen performing experiments on the FBI agent,
14:32which explains her suddenly enlarged belly.
14:43There was even behind-the-scenes talk
14:45of Scully giving birth to an alien baby at one point.
14:47Allegedly, Fox wanted to recast the actress
14:50after learning she was expecting,
14:52but creator Chris Carter fought for her to stay
14:54and found this supernatural solution instead.
15:08A zombie apocalypse probably isn't the best time to get pregnant,
15:11which is likely why they chose not to write this one into the show.
15:15However, the actress who played Tara
15:17was pregnant for a lot of the sixth season,
15:19and if you go back and watch it again,
15:21you'll notice that she's often hiding behind a variety of objects.
15:27Still, with a zombie uprising, there's no time to rest,
15:30so it was business as usual with plenty of action
15:33and lots of zombie killing.
15:34To give the then-heavily pregnant actress a break,
15:37Tara is sent on a two-week supply run
15:39during the season's last few episodes.
15:46Fans of this sitcom will know that Angela Martin
15:50But in season four,
15:52actress Angela Kinsey was pregnant in real life.
15:54Since her character wasn't pregnant this time,
15:56she used some typical and not-so-typical ways
15:59to hide her baby bump.
16:00Playing a character in an office environment
16:02sure came in handy.
16:03Angela was often filmed in her cubicle,
16:05at the Xerox machine, or hiding behind objects.
16:08But in a particularly memorable scene
16:10from season four's Goodbye, Toby,
16:12Angela and Dwight find themselves in a...
16:14compromising position, to say the least.
16:16She might have been caught in the act,
16:18but her pregnancy wasn't.
16:26With two storylines always playing out in parallel
16:29throughout the series,
16:30it undoubtedly posed a challenge for the writers
16:32when Goodwin, who played Snow White
16:34and Mary Margaret Blanchard, announced her pregnancy.
16:37Season three was very complicated as it is,
16:39and here we had one character
16:41who could freely show her growing bump,
16:43while the other was hidden under humongous cloaks.
16:47They also later half-wrote Emily de Robin's pregnancy
16:50into Belle's storyline into season five.
16:52While Belle is pregnant,
16:53she puts herself under a sleeping curse
16:55to protect the baby
16:56after Rumpel's unfortunate deal with Hades.
17:03This worked both in explaining her absence
17:05and ensuring that she wouldn't appear
17:07further along than Belle.
17:0910. Courtney Cox – Friends
17:15Who among us didn't share in Monica and Chandler's heartbreak
17:18when they learned that they wouldn't be able
17:20to conceive a baby?
17:21Instead, we followed them on their adoption journey,
17:24where they would eventually become parents
17:26to twins in a surprise twist.
17:39However, not long after this story arc began,
17:42actress Courtney Cox announced her own pregnancy,
17:44and the showrunners had no other choice
17:46but to try to creatively,
17:47though not always successfully,
17:49use baggy clothes and huge props to cover her up.
17:55However, as the weeks progressed,
17:56it became harder and harder not to notice.
17:59As the season headed into its finale,
18:01there was no denying that the actress was pregnant.
18:049. Leah Remini – The King of Queens
18:09Oh, I just stopped at that falafel place.
18:11I don't know why I keep having falafel.
18:13I kind of hate it.
18:14This actress has openly discussed gaining 80 pounds
18:16during her pregnancy.
18:17Instead of making Carrie Heffernan pregnant,
18:19this sitcom embraced Leah's weight gain
18:21in a very convenient way.
18:23In a recurring storyline,
18:24Carrie finds herself looking for work,
18:26but also lounging around in sweats or a bathrobe,
18:29perfect outfits for concealing a baby bump.
18:31She can also be seen clutching a pillow on her stomach
18:34or relaxing in bed.
18:36Carrie finds work just as Leah's pregnancy
18:38becomes more noticeable,
18:39giving her more ways to hide her bump.
18:41We actually get brief shots of her pregnancy
18:43towards the season finale,
18:45but overall, we'd say this cover-up worked
18:47in Carrie and Leah's favor.
18:548. Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Seinfeld
19:00Elaine Bennis didn't have kids of her own,
19:02but Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a mother of two.
19:04Julia was pregnant throughout Season 3 of Seinfeld.
19:07Since Elaine wasn't expecting,
19:09the producers had to get creative.
19:11There were the usual larger coats
19:13and hiding behind objects,
19:14and in Season 3's The Subway,
19:16Elaine is on her way to a wedding,
19:18wearing an oversized red coat
19:20and carrying her gift on her stomach.
19:22Things get claustrophobic pretty quick,
19:24and The Subway stalls for what seems like an eternity.
19:27What results is Elaine's totally relatable
19:30and hilarious internal monologue.
19:35Still here? When will they start moving?
19:38Move! Move! Move!
19:42Pregnant or not, we've all been there.
19:44Elaine also went to Europe
19:46for the first couple of episodes of Season 4,
19:48returning after Julia's maternity leave.
19:517. Jane Leaves – Frasier
19:53Darling, look at that. Your ankle's swelling up already.
19:55It's the other one!
19:59While Niles and Daphne have their own baby
20:01in the series finale,
20:02Jane Leaves was pregnant throughout Season 8.
20:04Instead of hiding the pregnancy in a conventional way,
20:07the show had an ingenious solution.
20:09Go on. I need a few more minutes to get ready.
20:15Daphne starts overeating
20:17and even hides snacks around the apartment.
20:19Strangely enough, everyone but Niles seems to notice.
20:22That is, until she falls and can't get up.
20:25After some heavy lifting by Niles,
20:27Frasier and Martin Crane,
20:29she's back up again.
20:30As her overeating goes from bad to worse,
20:32Niles suggests she go to a weight loss retreat,
20:35which explains her absence for a few episodes.
20:38As far as covering up a pregnancy goes,
20:40this way is funny, clever and poignant all at once.
20:486. Lauren Lane – The Nanny
20:50This actress, who played Maxwell Sheffield's
20:52business partner CeCe Babcock,
20:54was expecting throughout Season 5 of The Nanny.
20:56CeCe drops some very obvious hints
20:59that Lauren Lane is having a baby.
21:15She first jokes about another pregnant sitcom star
21:18and carries the usual large props.
21:20In an especially funny scene,
21:22CeCe later enters with a giant sign that says baby.
21:25There's no subtlety whatsoever,
21:27but that's what makes it work.
21:28As Lauren's pregnancy progressed,
21:30so did Maxwell, Fran and CeCe's love triangle.
21:33After Maxwell and Fran become engaged in a later episode,
21:36the devastated CeCe is institutionalized.
21:39But not to worry, she comes back soon enough.
21:51Being a doctor is not an easy job,
21:53especially at Seattle Grace.
21:55Ever wonder why Lexi stuffed her face in Season 5?
21:58In real life, Kyler Lee was pregnant,
22:00so while Grey's Anatomy used the usual filming techniques
22:03to hide her baby bump,
22:04they also made Lexi stress eat.
22:06Lexi chows down at home,
22:08but especially at work.
22:10She's also got quite the sweet tooth,
22:12craving Reese's Cups, Twinkies and chocolate.
22:14Frankly, we don't blame her.
22:16All this stress eating causes Lexi to put on a bit of weight,
22:18which leads to a brutally honest
22:20but cheeky comment from sister Meredith.
22:22Humongous but or not though,
22:24the Greys are as close as ever.
22:37To quote 30 Rock executive producer Robert Carlock,
22:39quote,
22:43So, when Jane Krakowski became pregnant with her son,
22:45the show went to great lengths to hide her bump.
22:48They started out with conventional tricks,
22:50like having Jenna hold bags and filming her sitting down,
22:52but as her pregnancy continued,
22:54they came up with more unique ideas.
22:56The notoriously non-maternal Jenna
22:58suddenly really wants a baby,
23:00and even has a hysterical pregnancy.
23:02In the fifth season finale,
23:04Jenna outdoes herself,
23:06walking around Central Park in an oversized dog costume.
23:1530 Rock not only covered up Jane's pregnancy,
23:17but they also used it to her character's advantage.
23:23I don't know. Is anyone gonna buy it?
23:25I mean, do I look pregnant?
23:27I mean,
23:29I guess I can see it.
23:31Unlike some other shows on this list,
23:33Brooklyn Nine-Nine didn't always hide
23:35Melissa Fumero's pregnancy.
23:37Early on, they chose the usual oversized bags,
23:39coats, and even a gift basket.
23:41But as season three progressed,
23:43the show decided to make the most out of her growing bump.
23:45In the episode Maximum Security,
23:47Amy goes undercover as a pregnant prisoner
23:50after Rose's fake bump backfires.
23:52While Amy's real identity is under wraps,
23:54her pregnancy sure isn't.
23:56She tries to get information from inmate Maura Figgis,
23:58putting herself in all kinds of danger.
24:00Well, at least Jake thinks so.
24:02Amy earns Maura's trust regardless,
24:04making her one badass mama-to-be
24:06on and off screen.
24:17This actress's second pregnancy
24:19was written into season seven of this beloved sitcom.
24:21However, the show decided to hide
24:23Allison's first pregnancy in season four.
24:25That is, until we learn about the gang's resumes.
24:27While the friends discuss entries
24:29that don't have anything to do with their current jobs,
24:31Lily's resume shows her to be
24:33quite the competitive eater.
24:35Back in 1995, Lily won a hot dog
24:37eating contest after downing
24:3929 dogs in only eight minutes.
24:41As she is proclaimed the winner,
24:43Lily the Belly Aldrin lives up to her nickname,
24:45revealing Allison's real-life baby bump.
24:48Hilarious and incredibly creative,
24:50this pregnancy is undeniably legend,
24:52wait for it, dairy.
24:54Before we continue,
24:56be sure to subscribe to our channel
24:58and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
25:00You have the option to be notified
25:02for occasional videos or all of them.
25:04If you're on your phone,
25:06make sure you go into your settings
25:08and switch on notifications.
25:111. Zooey Deschanel – New Girl
25:15For much of New Girl's fifth season,
25:17this adorkable actress and singer
25:19was pregnant.
25:21The show used conventional and not-so-conventional
25:23ways to hide her growing bump.
25:25In the season premiere, Zooey was not far along,
25:27so they stuck to the usual
25:29baggier clothes and hiding behind objects.
25:31And of course, no premiere is complete
25:33without Jess falling downstairs
25:35and using a motorized scooter.
25:37By episode three, Zooey was further along,
25:39and Jess began serving on jury duty,
25:41which gave her plenty of screen time sitting down.
25:43Meanwhile, Megan Fox's Regan
25:45served as a replacement roommate
25:47until Jess' return.
25:55What's your favorite way a show hid an actress' pregnancy?
25:57Let us know in the comments.
26:03Do you agree with our picks?
26:05Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo,
26:07and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell
26:09to be notified about our latest videos.