15 Actresses Who Were Pregnant During Filming But Cleverly Hid It

Celebrity baby bumps make us swoon, but those swelling stomachs can be challenging for pregnant actresses in the middle of filming a movie or television show.
When a pregnancy cannot be written into a character's tale, producers, prop masters, and costume designers hunt for ways to disguise increasing stomachs. It can be done through imaginative posing, baggy clothes, putting it into the program, trying to hide it with clever angles, or various other means.
However, there are times when pregnancy is unavoidable, and the show is forced to cut its season short. For example, in season three of Scandal, the episode count was reduced from 22 to 18 so that star Kerry Washington could have her baby and take maternity leave. That's not what the program did when she became pregnant again in season six. They took the bump-hiding path, just like these 34 other celebs. They continued to play their characters while successfully concealing their own bundles of joy. The show must, after all, go on.
Fans may not even notice the camouflage if the appropriate combination is used. How many of these bumps are you familiar with? Scroll down below and discover them yourself.

#1 Blake Lively in The Shallows

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While filming The Shallows, we assumed Blake Lively's bikini physique meant she wasn't pregnant, but the joke was plainly on us. She was already on her way to welcoming her second baby, Ines while filming the action-packed shark chases. The production team got inventive by hiding her pregnancy bump using movie props and camera angles.

#2 Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City

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The fifth season of Sex and the City only had eight episodes because of the principal actress, Sarah Jessica Parker, who plays fashionable writer Carrie Bradshaw. During the filming of the series, she fell pregnant with her son, James Wilkie.
The costume crew rushed to her rescue, dressing her in big, loose garments and covering her stomach with Birkin bags. In fact, there were two pregnant women on site, as her co-star, Cynthia Nixon, was also expecting her son, Charles Ezekiel.

#3 Penélope Cruz in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

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Penélope Cruz could have easily given up on the swashbuckling adventure in the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film. Despite being pregnant with her son, Leo, she persisted and went on to play Angelica, a female pirate.
Fortunately, her family supported her, as her sister Monica acted as her body double in wide shots and sword fights to conceal her pregnancy. "Monica arrived at the end to film several parts. "She's a dancer, and she's very good with a sword because she's done a film," she explained.

#4 Kate Winslet in Divergent

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There was almost no moment in Divergent without Kate Winslet's character, Jeanine, holding a folder or tablet in front of her. This was due to the fact that she was already 5 months pregnant with her son, Bear Blaze when she shot her close-up scenes.
The production team got a little imaginative and decided to cover her bump with an iPad. Despite being in her second pregnancy, Winslet persisted in doing some of her stunts, and director Neil Burger was impressed.

#5 Reese Witherspoon in Vanity Fair

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Regency-period Reese Witherspoon was made for London clothes while filming the period drama Vanity Fair. She was 5 months pregnant with her son, Deacon, and the production team discreetly concealed her developing belly by dressing her in voluminous layers of clothes and concealing her behind cleverly positioned furniture, all of which was uncannily suitable for the moment.

#6 Gillian Anderson in The X-Files

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Gillian Anderson was in the middle of filming the second season of The X-Files when she discovered she was pregnant with her daughter, Piper Maru. However, the writers of the program simply went with it and created an entirely new narrative to give her extra screen time with a covered bump. In the series' closing episodes, her character, Dana Scully, is seen with sheets draped over her as she is "abducted" by aliens.

#7 Lisa Kudrow in Friends

Source: © Friends / Warner Bros. Television and co-producers, © lisakudrow / Instagram

Many things transpired behind the scenes of Friends, as you'd expect from a decade-long blockbuster TV show. Lisa Kudrow's pregnancy with her son, Julian, was a watershed moment. Instead of hiding her pregnancy for the rest of seasons 4 and 5, a storyline was constructed to accommodate it.
On-screen, she served as a surrogate for her character's brother and his wife's triplets. Behind the scenes, her co-stars were completely supportive of her endeavor. "When I was pregnant, they would tell me, 'Have a great show, love you, love you — love you, Julian!'" We knew it was a boy since that was his name. "They were so sweet to include my little fetus in the huddle[s]," Kudrow remarked.

#8 Mindy Kaling in The Mindy Project

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It was unfortunate that The Mindy Project's main lady and her alter-ego, Mindy Lahiri, did not become pregnant at the same time. In the third season of the program, Kaling's on-screen character went through her pregnancy journey, while in real life, she carried her daughter, Katherine, in her womb during the final season.
To fix the dilemma, the wardrobe team purchased numerous bags and handbags and purposefully positioned various objects in front of Kaling's abdomen.

#9 Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman

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Gal Gadot discovered she was pregnant with her second daughter, Maya while playing the Amazonian warrior in Wonder Woman. Instead of giving up, she channeled her inner superhero and persuaded the production team to conjure up different ways to conceal her 5-month pregnancy, including draping some green fabric on her belly.

#10 Emily Blunt in Into the Woods

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Playing the baker's wife who yearns for a child may have been the ideal character for Emily Blunt in Into the Woods, considering that she was pregnant with her daughter, Hazel, at the time of production. Blunt revealed that the costume crew had to make changes every four days or so to suit her developing tummy.
They also had to be creative with their camera angles and positioning. She explained, "I was hiding behind every tree in that wood."

#11 Scarlett Johansson in Avengers: Age of Ultron

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Scarlett Johansson looked stunning in the black bodysuit Black Widow wore in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but she was expecting her daughter, Rose, at the time. That didn't stop her from doing action sequences, and the production went so far as to hire stunt doubles, use close-ups, and experiment with visual effects.

#12 Isla Fisher in Burke and Hare

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Isla's nineteenth-century clothing aided her performance in the grim comedy Burke and Hare. She was pregnant with her daughter, Ella, at the time, but neither the crew nor her co-stars noticed. Instead, she took advantage of the film's location by wearing voluminous dresses and big coats to conceal her pregnancy without fitting into a corset.

#13 Helena Bonham Carter in Sweeney Todd

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Helena Bonham Carter found she was pregnant with her and director Tim Burton's daughter, Nell, during the closing sequences of Sweeney Todd. As a result, Burton opted to play along with the pregnancy by having the actress wear darker clothing and altering the lighting in several scenes to mask Mrs. Lovett's apparent increasing abdomen.

#14 Melissa Fumero in Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Source: © Brooklyn Nine-Nine / Universal Television and co-producers, © melissafumero / Instagram

Melissa's baby Enzo couldn't wait to enter the world while the actress was filming the third season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Instead of building her pregnancy into the script, the program's makers decided it was too soon for Detective Amy to have a child and devised inventive solutions as the actress began to show.
Detective Amy's narrative included a lot of loose clothing. The writers even used an undercover pregnant lady narrative to provide Melissa with the comfort she required without disclosing her pregnancy.

#15 Julie Bowen in Modern Family

Source: © Modern Family / 20th Television and co-producers, © itsjuliebowen / Instagram

Julie Bowen began filming the first episode of Modern Family just a half-month before giving birth to twins Gus and John. Claire, her character, wore a lot of sweaters, and the production team opted to hide her bump with weird items like laundry baskets, pillows, and even cereal boxes.
What do you think was the most ingenious approach to conceal a baby bump? How frequently do you come across powerful ladies like the ones mentioned above? Do you know somebody like this in your life?