- 8 months ago
From groundbreaking moments in classic sitcoms to surprising sci-fi twists, real-life pregnancies have shaped some of the most memorable TV storylines. Join us as we highlight the unique challenges and creative solutions shows employed when actresses’ baby bumps became part of the plot. These heartfelt, humorous, and sometimes unexpected integrations added a new layer to beloved characters and series.
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00:00Out of my way. I've broken my water. There's a baby inside of me running out of water.
00:04Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most unforgettable times
00:08TV characters became moms because the actresses were expecting in real life.
00:12Yo, Amy, I left that baby stuff by her locker.
00:15Now that you're pregnant, there's no time to be stingy.
00:17That guy's got great timing.
00:19Number 20, Melissa Rauch, The Big Bang Theory.
00:22Okay, we go down and back up.
00:30And back up.
00:32Yeah, hearing you is not the problem.
00:34Not long after Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz gave birth to her and Howard's daughter Hallie
00:38on The Big Bang Theory, the actress playing the character fell pregnant in real life.
00:43Melissa announced she was expecting a rainbow baby through a moving essay on Glamour.com
00:47in July 2017.
00:49Rather than hiding the bump, showrunner Steve Holland decided to incorporate her pregnancy
00:53into the storyline.
00:54Okay, is this the hormones or have you always been a lunatic?
01:00I don't even know anymore.
01:01He figured that a surprise second pregnancy would be an interesting plot development.
01:05To ensure Rauch's pregnancy went smoothly, her character was even put on bed rest.
01:09You know, I hear that sex can induce labor.
01:11Anything for my family.
01:12Melissa safely welcomed her first child, daughter Sadie, into the world in December 2017.
01:18And Bernadette gave birth to her second on the 16th episode of season 11.
01:22Hey, everything okay?
01:23Yeah, the baby was born about an hour ago.
01:27Dude, why didn't you call me?
01:29Number 19.
01:30Holly Marie Combs, Charmed
01:31What about water birth?
01:33Can we do that at home?
01:34Sure, we can rent a tub.
01:35What am I, a dolphin?
01:36I'm not giving birth to fish.
01:38Well, actually, dolphins aren't fish.
01:39They're mammals.
01:40Shut up!
01:40This actress stole countless hearts as Piper Halliwell.
01:43According to reports, when she got pregnant with her first child, Finley, in 2004,
01:48producers initially hoped to keep the pregnancy hidden.
01:50Look, Paige, we said we would wait to decide until this thing played out, and it has.
01:55In the Charmed universe, Piper was already a mother of one at the time.
01:59However, when the opportunity to introduce a new key character into the plot presented
02:04itself, they decided to give Piper another son, Chris.
02:08Okay, see, I need an epidural just to watch this.
02:12As the story progresses, Chris travels back in time to protect the Charmed Ones.
02:16Piper's second pregnancy lined up with Holly's first, and gave the show one of its coolest
02:20characters.
02:21And three, two, three.
02:25Number 18.
02:27Ivana Milicevic, The Hundred.
02:29So, am I right in assuming that you haven't come to get tested before now because you're
02:33already having symptoms?
02:36Something like that.
02:38Yeah.
02:40The iconic sci-fi series originally intended Charmaine Dioza to be a short-lived villainess.
02:45Actress Ivana Milicevic joined the show for its fifth season, and later told TV Line that
02:50her character was supposed to be offed by the end of the season.
02:53However, when Ivana got pregnant right before the camera started rolling, showrunner Jason
02:58Rothenberg decided to give Charmaine a more meaningful arc, and created the character of
03:02her daughter, Hope.
03:09Charmaine's story continued until the final season, much to the joy of fans.
03:13Milicevic credits her real-life son Phoenix's birth for the incredible work she got to do
03:18on The Hundred for three years.
03:20Number 17.
03:21Janet Hubert, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
03:24This beloved actress originated the character of Aunt Viv.
03:27She was expecting a baby when The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was on its third season.
03:31Going to the electric chair?
03:34Since I got pregnant, I can't stop eating.
03:37To accommodate her, the show made Aunt Viv pregnant with her youngest child, Nikki.
03:40Unfortunately, Hubert's marriage to James Whitten at the time was allegedly abusive,
03:45and she wasn't having the best time on set, either.
03:48Things came to a head when the show reportedly offered her a poor deal, and the actress decided
03:52to quit.
03:53Hello, little Nicholas Andrew Vane.
04:00Honey, I thought we agreed to call him Phillip.
04:02Oh, that's a stupid name.
04:05However, people thought Janet was fired, and that she was feuding with Will Smith.
04:09The actress later revealed that she exited the show on her own terms,
04:13and reconciled with the Bad Boys star.
04:15Shazam!
04:17Smile!
04:22Number 16.
04:23Kaley Cuoco, Based on a True Story.
04:26No serial killer is going to take someone out in public and then kill them after.
04:28That's not the Ripper style, trust me.
04:30I know my serial killers, and this one is still out there.
04:35The Big Bang Theory actress got pregnant with her daughter Matilda,
04:37whom she shares with actor Tom Pelfrey in 2022.
04:41Based on a true story hadn't started filming at the time.
04:44As one of the executive producers of the show,
04:46Kaley decided to propose the idea of her character Ava Bartlett being a pregnant woman
04:51as a way of revealing her own pregnancy to the producers.
04:53I actually really wanted to do it this way.
04:55I wanted to look pregnant.
04:56I wanted to show the belly.
04:57I didn't want to hide from anything, and I wanted the storyline to stay the same.
05:00After some contemplation, showrunner Craig Rosenberg was on board.
05:04Excited at the prospect of seeing a different kind of performance from Cuoco,
05:08little Matilda was born a few months before the show premiered.
05:11Honestly, it was a blast, and I was very catered, too.
05:13I was very spoiled on this show.
05:15Is that right?
05:15I ate everything.
05:16I had 900 chairs.
05:17Number 15.
05:18Sarah Drew, Grey's Anatomy.
05:21The ABC medical drama is no stranger to incorporating its actresses' pregnancies into the show.
05:26There's the little one.
05:27Oh!
05:28That's it.
05:30That's it.
05:30That's the feeling.
05:31What is that?
05:32What is that?
05:32That's your baby moving.
05:34However, in the case of Sarah Drew, her character, Dr. April Kepner,
05:38was written to be pregnant before the actress was even expecting.
05:41Quote,
05:42Shonda knows everything, Drew mused in an interview with Fit Pregnancy.
05:45Her character became a first-time mom in season 11,
05:48while Drew and her husband, Peter Lanfer, were expecting their second child.
05:52Sarah's TV baby bump, of course, was real.
05:54Just 6 pounds, 13 ounces at birth, Hannah was struggling.
05:59Kepner's baby does not survive, but thankfully,
06:02Sarah gave birth to a healthy girl named Hannah in December 2020.
06:05Going through some serious pregnancy complications on the show,
06:08and having literally just lived through that stuff emotionally,
06:13almost in a way, prepared me.
06:15Similarly, Katerina Scorsone's third pregnancy was written into her character,
06:19Dr. Amelia Shepard's arc in season 16.
06:21Yeah, it's exciting, and scary, and maybe a mistake.
06:26I'm sure you have an opinion.
06:27Number 14.
06:28AJ Cook, Criminal Minds
06:30He's kicking a lot today.
06:33In the third trimester, there was an average of 30 fetal movements per hour.
06:36Babies kick to explore movement and strengthen muscle.
06:38The actress is a mother of two sons,
06:40Makai Allen and Phoenix Sky,
06:42and her pregnancy with both her boys was written into the show.
06:45They even appear on Criminal Minds as her on-screen sons,
06:48Henry and Michael, in the show's fourth and eleventh seasons, respectively.
06:52What's he doing? What's he doing?
06:53He is smiling at Derek Morgan.
06:56Josh Stewart once claimed that his character,
06:58William LaMontagne Jr.,
07:00became J.J.'s serious love interest
07:01only because the writers didn't want to conceal Cook's first pregnancy.
07:05During her second pregnancy,
07:06her character was briefly written out
07:08so the actress could enjoy her maternity leave.
07:10We're starting her training now.
07:12Training her right now?
07:14Well, we're kind of running out of time.
07:16Makai and Phoenix also make appearances on Criminal Minds Evolution,
07:20notably in an episode directed by their mom.
07:23Number 13.
07:24Molly Ringwald,
07:25The Secret Life of the American Teenager
07:27How is she supposed to learn anything
07:28when you go and do something crazy like this?
07:30Now I'm supposed to be the good example?
07:31The Golden Globe-nominated actress gave birth to twins,
07:34Adele and Roman, in 2009.
07:37It was her second pregnancy with husband, Ponyo Giannopoulos,
07:39who fathered her first child, Matilda.
07:41Shailene Woodley,
07:42who played Molly's on-screen teen daughter, Amy,
07:45in The Secret Life of the American Teenager,
07:47said the team was excited to hear about her pregnancy.
07:50The way it was integrated into season two was also seamless.
07:53Not long after Amy gives birth to her son, John,
07:56Ringwald's character, Anne, gets pregnant.
07:58Everything is fine as long as I'm in bed rest.
08:00We just don't want the baby to get her earlier than he should, that's all.
08:03What do you mean?
08:03Is he trying to sneak out early or something?
08:05This aligned perfectly with the show's theme
08:07of dealing with unplanned pregnancies,
08:09while also dialing up the drama to 11
08:11as Anne tried to figure out whose baby she was expecting.
08:14Needless to say, it made for some good TV.
08:17George, we don't need a dog.
08:19We need a person.
08:20A person who can do laundry and clean house
08:22and keep me company and bring me food and water.
08:25Well, you can be trained to do all that.
08:26Number 12.
08:27America Ferrera, Superstore.
08:29Thought a lot about this,
08:31and you being pregnant is not a deal-breaker for me.
08:34I may not be that baby's father,
08:35but I'm willing to step up and be its dad.
08:40Thank you, Marcus.
08:41The Barbie actress was blessed with her first pregnancy
08:43with husband Ryan Pierce-Williams in 2017.
08:47She did not reveal the news to the world until 2018.
08:50However, her Superstore co-stars caught on before that
08:53just because she was craving pancakes on set one day.
08:56I wouldn't say no to a man offering to support me and my baby.
08:59He can't support me.
09:00He works part-time at a PetSmart.
09:02Which PetSmart?
09:02The one on Balson.
09:04That's the good one.
09:05On the show, writers made America's character Amy Sosa
09:08pregnant with her ex-husband Adam's child.
09:10This was an interesting choice and made viewers' jaws drop
09:13because everyone was rooting for Amy
09:15to end up with Ben Feldman's Jonah at the time.
09:17You're pregnant?
09:19I'm sorry, who is...
09:21No, not you.
09:22No, no, no, no, no.
09:24In 2019, when Ferrera got pregnant again,
09:27she decided to exit the show after season five
09:29to focus on her growing family and explore other projects.
09:32However, she does appear on several episodes of the sixth and final season.
09:37Amy, sorry to interrupt, but I think some pooping is happening your way.
09:40Yeah, I know.
09:40I'll change him soon.
09:41Oh, okay.
09:43We're just supposed to ignore the human feces in the room?
09:45Number 11.
09:46Melanie Scrofano, Wynonna Earp.
09:48What are you trying to pull, man?
09:50Don't trick me.
09:51I didn't mean to spook you.
09:53It's just that you only have a few weeks left.
09:55The Canadian actress found out she was pregnant with her second son, Teddy, in 2016.
09:59She shared the exciting news with Wynonna Earp creator Emily Andrus,
10:03and she was more than happy to incorporate the pregnancy into the show's storyline.
10:07And she was like, you know, we can use whatever you're actually going through.
10:10We can put that in the show.
10:12And so actually, it was sort of great because if I was, like, in a bad mood,
10:17I was just like, well, Wynonna's busy right now.
10:19Let's just deal with it.
10:20According to Variety, she did have to go back and change some of the writing for Season 2.
10:25However, Andrus was determined to honor the feminist spirit of the show and fight for her heroine.
10:30Scrofano did the entire season while pregnant and gave birth only after she finished filming.
10:35When viewers found out Wynonna was pregnant in Season 2, Episode 5,
10:39it was a twist no one saw coming.
10:41This whole thing took me by surprise.
10:45Number 10.
10:45Emily Deschanel, Bones.
10:47One of the main draws of Bones was the undeniable chemistry between Emily Deschanel's Dr. Temperance Brennan
10:53and David Boreanaz's FBI agent, Celie Booth.
10:56We always knew where their will-they-or-won't-they dance was inevitably leading,
11:00but fate stepped in a little earlier than the writers may have intended.
11:03Rather than try to work around Deschanel's real-life pregnancy,
11:14the show incorporated it into the plot
11:16and used it as the impetus to finally make things official between Bones and Booth.
11:20In the seventh season, the characters would work to adapt to couple life and parenting.
11:36Emily Deschanel said that it was a pretty accurate reflection of her own adjustment to motherhood.
11:40The dynamic worked so well that her second pregnancy was written into the show as well.
11:50Hollywood has not always been a friendly place for expectant mothers.
11:58When Gillian Anderson became pregnant at the end of The X-Files' first season,
12:01studio executives pressured showrunner Chris Carter to recast her role.
12:10To his credit, Carter supported Anderson.
12:13Instead, the show adopted a hybrid strategy for working with her condition.
12:17In the first half of the second season,
12:24the classic costuming and camera tricks were used to hide Anderson's pregnancy.
12:27In the course of all this, Scully, working separately from Mulder,
12:31becomes the victim of an abduction and experimentation.
12:34This bombshell reveal would both use and explain Anderson's pregnancy in-universe.
12:39We have to love this creative, mythology-building solution to the challenge.
12:59When Hannigan's first pregnancy wasn't a natural fit for her character,
13:03the show addressed the matter with the humor you might expect.
13:06And the new champion with 29 hot dogs, Lily the Belly Albrecht!
13:13Her second baby came around at the perfect time, though.
13:16With Marshall and Lily also poised to start a family,
13:19it was a no-brainer to write Hannigan's real pregnancy into the series.
13:23We're having a baby.
13:25What, for real?
13:26For real.
13:27Watching Lily and Marshall move, and move again,
13:32prepare for parenthood, and eventually welcome their son
13:35felt like the most organic progression in the world for the long-time couple.
13:39Of course, the show had no trouble bringing all kinds of goofy fun to these situations as well.
13:44That's all you, baby.
13:45You know, I'll be four shots in with no food.
13:47In nine months, I'll be pushing a pumpkin-headed Erickson baby out of my hoo-ha.
13:51I think Papa can manage a few extra cocktails.
13:54Well played.
13:55It's so nice when your personal and professional life can line up this neatly.
13:59Number 7.
14:00Jennifer Goodwin.
14:01Once Upon a Time.
14:02Talk about life-imitating art.
14:05Stars Jennifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas met when they were cast opposite each other
14:08as Once Upon a Time's paragons of true love,
14:11Snow White, and Prince Charming.
14:12You found me.
14:15Do you ever doubt I would?
14:18Truthfully, the glass coffin gave me pause.
14:23But you never have to worry, I will always find you.
14:25It wasn't long before the actors had fallen for one another in real life.
14:29They became engaged in 2013,
14:31and the 2014 birth of their first child was written into the show as well.
14:35We're going to do this the way we do everything.
14:39Together.
14:39Together.
14:42Now, how did I forget that?
14:46Now, come on.
14:47We have a nursery to build.
14:49With Snow and Charming recently reunited after decades under an evil curse,
14:54Goodwin and Dallas' real-life start to their family
14:56was a natural fit for their on-screen characters.
14:59The arrival of our new son
15:01has been the cause of great joy for our family.
15:06And we hope you can share in it as we name him for a hero.
15:08Luckily, the parallels did have a few limits.
15:11They avoided the part about having to put their firstborn into a magical wardrobe
15:16and send them to a different dimension.
15:19Number 6.
15:19Cynthia Nixon, Sex and the City
15:21When Sarah Jessica Parker became pregnant,
15:24the show fell back on old standbys to hide that fact.
15:27However, when it came to actress Cynthia Nixon,
15:30her pregnancy was incorporated into her character Miranda's storyline.
15:33I took three EPT tests and I'm coming from my doctor,
15:37which is why I called you to meet me way down here on the corner of 23rd and I'm in hell.
15:41Not exactly the maternal type,
15:43Miranda hadn't been too deeply shaken by the news of her lazy ovary in season 2.
15:48It was a big shock when she found herself pregnant several seasons later
15:52after having unprotected sex with Steve.
15:54Why didn't I use a condom?
15:56You didn't use a condom.
15:57He only has one ball and I have a lazy ovary.
16:00In what twisted world does that create a baby?
16:02The pregnancy and subsequent birth of her son Brady
16:04proved to be a huge character growth event for Miranda.
16:08He's not hungry, he's not teething, he just wants to scream.
16:11I'm doing everything I can, but I can't please him.
16:13If he was 35, this is when we would break up.
16:15As she adapted to the changes in her life,
16:18viewers got to enjoy the process of seeing Miranda
16:20discover new sides to the identity we already loved.
16:23Number 5.
16:24Jennifer Garner, Alias
16:26To be honest, the life of super spy Sidney Bristow
16:29already sounds plenty challenging.
16:31However, when actress Jennifer Garner discovered
16:34she was expecting her first child in 2005,
16:36the series' writers made the choice to throw
16:38the expectant mom curveball at her on-screen counterpart as well.
16:41I didn't think this is what I wanted.
16:43I mean, bringing a baby into this world that is so messed up,
16:46I just assumed that I'd wait, that we'd wait.
16:51For...
16:51For things to be safe, or at least safer.
16:54For Sidney, this meant taking a step back from the action
16:57to train newbie Rachel Gibson.
16:59Not that her life got any less dramatic, of course.
17:02There was still plenty to keep her on her toes
17:04with the death and later resurrection of her lover Michael Vaughn.
17:07I don't know how we do this anymore.
17:10We do it the way we've always done it.
17:12The final season included the birth of their daughter.
17:15Though we never got to see Sidney juggle domesticity with the spy life,
17:18these two parents seem like they can handle just about anything.
17:21That's what you say every time you show up on my doorstep.
17:25The next thing you know, I'm jumping over canals and three-inch heels
17:27while napalm explodes around me.
17:30Yes, that's how I define fun.
17:33Number 4. Chelsea Peretti, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
17:35After deciding to hide star Melissa Fumero's pregnancy,
17:39the cop comedy went a different route
17:40after Peretti announced her own expectant status following season 3.
17:44It's fine. You might as well know. I'm with a child.
17:47Gina Linetti isn't exactly a character
17:49who seems like the most traditional maternal figure.
17:51That is where the fun comes in, naturally.
17:54In one of the most inspired choices of the plotline,
17:57the show initially left the identity of Gina's baby daddy undisclosed.
18:01At the end of season 4,
18:02it was revealed to be one of Boyle's cousins.
18:05Fine!
18:06I'll tell you who the baby's father is,
18:09but you have to be chill.
18:10I will be so chill.
18:11The baby daddy is a Boyle cousin.
18:15Woo! It's a Boyle! Woo!
18:18Inspired though that choice was,
18:20it was nothing compared to the revelation of Ryan Phillippe
18:23in the role of Milton Boyle.
18:24If it's a girl, how about the enigma?
18:27Oh my god, I already thought of that.
18:29And then if it's a boy, it could just be...
18:31The enigma.
18:31Number 3, Caitlin Olsen.
18:35It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
18:42Though being an expectant mother temporarily prohibited Olsen
18:45from performing some of her more extreme physical comedy stunts,
18:48her real-life pregnancy led to some hilarious plotlines.
18:52With a visible baby bump in season 6,
18:54the episode Who Got Dee Pregnant follows the rest of the gang
18:57as they attempt to figure out which one of them is the father,
19:00as Dee claims.
19:00Now we're just trying to figure out who banged Dee.
19:02That's the important thing.
19:03In reality, it's Rob Mac, Caitlin Olsen's off-screen husband.
19:07But in the Always Sunny universe,
19:09Dee is acting as a surrogate for Carmen, Mac's ex-girlfriend,
19:12though she withholds this information from the others
19:14throughout her pregnancy.
19:15We had a difficult time finding a surrogate,
19:17but Dee here was a miracle to us.
19:19In the following season,
19:20Dee attempts to claim the baby as a dependent,
19:23which goes horribly, horribly wrong.
19:25New scooter!
19:26My surrogate money came in.
19:2830 G's, baby!
19:29Number 2.
19:30Lisa Kudrow, Friends
19:32There are certainly benefits to playing quirky characters.
19:35Namely, the amount of latitude they give writers
19:38when it comes to coming up with creative solutions.
19:40When Lisa Kudrow was pregnant,
19:41Friends brought in Phoebe's brother Frank with an unusual request.
19:45And they say that their only chance to have a baby
19:47is that if they take my sperm, her egg,
19:50and put it together in a dish,
19:52and then put it into another girl.
19:55So we were wondering if you could be the girl
19:57that we could put it into.
19:58Most people wouldn't be up for the demands of surrogacy,
20:00but Phoebe is definitely not most people.
20:03She embraces the challenge,
20:05and eventually learns that she's expecting triplets.
20:08So in a few months,
20:09I'm gonna have three full-grown babies
20:11just walking around inside me?
20:14Oh, oh, and it's gonna be like one of those log rides
20:16when they just come shooting out.
20:18Ironically, this forced the show to pad out Kudrow's costumes
20:21to make it look like she was carrying more than one baby.
20:24Not only did the writers work smoothly around her off-screen life,
20:27but they also used the opportunity
20:29to give Kudrow one of her best scenes ever.
20:31Well, if you're gonna cry...
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20:54Number 1. Lucille Ball
20:58I Love Lucy
20:59The birth of a child is a milestone for any couple.
21:03But in this case,
21:04it was an event of actual historical significance.
21:07As ridiculous as it sounds,
21:08in the early days of television,
21:10network executives considered the idea
21:12of a pregnant woman on screen to be vulgar.
21:14Even the word pregnant was deemed too scandalous.
21:17Hey, Lucy.
21:19Wait a minute.
21:20You don't suppose...
21:22I don't suppose what?
21:24You don't suppose you're gonna have a baby?
21:27Oh, of course not.
21:30Nevertheless,
21:31when sitcom legend Lucille Ball
21:33was expecting her first child,
21:35the revolutionary decision was made
21:37to write it into the show.
21:38You'll read it in winter
21:40that we're adding a limb
21:43to our family tree.
21:45And the plot line was a huge hit.
21:48Viewers identified with Lucy's journey to motherhood
21:50on and off screen.
21:52It turns out the cultural ground
21:54was fertile for more realistic depictions of life.
21:56And Lucy was just the lady to break that barrier.
21:59And it's only because of little Ricky
22:00that I want to get my break in show business.
22:03Did any of these storyline changes
22:05feel forced or out of place to you?
22:07Sound off in the comments.
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