10 Movie Productions Who Had to Find Ways to Hide Their Actresses’ Pregnancies

In fact, the female stars often get pregnant during filming. In many instances, scriptwriters find a way to incorporate the real pregnancy into the script. But in other cases, they just use close-ups and items to hide the actresses’ bellies.

1. Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman

While playing the Amazonian warrior in Wonder Woman, Gal Gadot found out she was pregnant with her second daughter, Maya. But instead of backing down, she channeled her inner superhero and convinced the production team to conjure several ways to conceal her 5-month bump, including placing some green fabric on her belly.

2. Scarlett Johansson in Avengers: Age of Ultron

Scarlett Johansson surely rocked the black bodysuit Black Widow wore in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but she was already expecting her daughter, Rose. That didn’t stop her from doing action sequences, and the crew went as far as to procure multiple costumes, hire stunt doubles, use close-ups, and experiment with visual effects.

3. Alyssa Milano on Mistresses

The star of Charmed, Alyssa Milano, who played the role of Savannah Davis in Mistresses, got pregnant right before the beginning of filming of Season 2. In order to conceal it, the actress was hidden behind bags and menus and asked to hold props like bulky bags and pillows in her hands. She also wore black oversized clothing.

According to Alyssa Milano, the series creators put so much effort into hiding her pregnancy that it looked like a sketch from Saturday Night Live. After the end of the season, she left the show, having explained it by saying she wished to spend more time with her family.

4. Penélope Cruz in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Penélope Cruz got pregnant halfway through filming. A stuntwoman had to be hired to shoot some scenes. Luckily, her own sister, actress Mónica Cruz, was able to take on this difficult task.

5. Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City

While Carrie Bradshaw, Sarah’s character, was ready to party and be single, the actress was expecting the birth of her first child. Since being a mom didn’t fit her character, they decided to give her wardrobe a makeover. In previous seasons, Carrie wore tight dresses, but in the fifth season of Sex and the City, she made the most of loose-fitting clothes and big bags.

6. Melissa Rauch in Big Bang Theory

While filming the 11th season of the popular sitcom, the actress who played Bernadette was pregnant. It became a real challenge for the showrunners because in the previous season the character and her husband had already had one kid. Nevertheless, the creators of the series decided that it could become a truly interesting story. Howard, Bernadette’s husband, was shocked to find out that she was expecting a second baby so soon after the birth of the first one (who had not turned a year old yet).

“They’re shell-shocked at the beginning,” said the creator of the series. “They’re still coming to terms with having a first child in the house, so having a second child has really knocked them for a loop. Some of the same things from the first time around too, like Bernadette, who is very driven at work and took some time off to have the first baby and has just gotten back, is now going to have to take time off again. You start to see her starting to feel threatened and vulnerable in her career.”

7. Mindy Kaling in The Mindy Project

It was a miss that the leading lady of The Mindy Project and her alter-ego, Mindy Lahiri, didn’t get pregnant at the same time. Kaling’s on-screen character went through her pregnancy journey in the third season of the show, while in real life, she carried her daughter, Katherine, in her belly during the final season.

To remedy the situation, the wardrobe team invested in a lot of bags and purses and placed various objects intentionally in front of Kaling’s tummy.

8. Blake Lively in The Shallows

Blake Lively’s bikini body had us assuming she wasn’t pregnant while filming The Shallows, but the joke was clearly on us. While filming the action-heavy shark chases, she was already on her way to welcoming her second daughter, Ines. The production team got creative by using movie props and camera angles to hide her baby bump.

9. Gillian Anderson in The X-Files

When Gillian Anderson found out she was pregnant with her daughter, Piper Maru, she was in the middle of shooting the second season of The X-Files. However, the show’s writers just went with it and wrote a whole new storyline to give her more screen time with a covered bump. In its final episodes, her character, Dana Scully, can be seen with sheets over her as she was being “abducted” by aliens.

10. Julie Bowen in Modern Family

Julie Bowen was just a half-month shy of giving birth to twins Gus and John when she started taping the pilot episode of Modern Family. Her character, Claire, wore many sweaters, and the production team decided to use random things like laundry baskets, pillows, and even cereal boxes to cover her bump.