Even Hollywood’s biggest stars are entitled to their privacy. Especially when it comes family matters. Pregnancy can be a particularly sensitive subject due to myriad complications that could arise at any point. It’s only natural for people who want to keep that information private for as long as possible. But if you think it’s hard for private citizens to keep such a huge secret, imagine the lengths to which celebrities must go when their lives are under constant scrutiny.
The bigger the celebrity, the harder it is to keep prying eyes away from their growing baby bump. Kudos to these 21 famous who women managed to conceal their conception from nosy journalists and the paparazzi. Their reasons for keeping it quiet vary. A few of them were biding their time before dropping killer announcements. Some had no trouble waiting until they could tell people on their own terms. Others were unwittingly outed by careless co-workers before they were ready to tell the world about their impending infants. Regardless, no matter how hard they tried, there would come a day when their bodies would spill the beans for them.
A handful of particularly skillful ladies managed to have babies in hand before anyone was the wiser. Find out which sneaky celebrities are among the 21 Stars Who Hid Their Pregnancies From The World.
Eva Mendes
The Mendes-Goslings are some of the best secret keepers in Hollywood. They long concealed nearly all of their relationship milestones, including their 2016 wedding and the births of both of their babies. Eva Mendes was already seven months into her first pregnancy when someone leaked the news. Having learned from their mistakes, Eva managed to birth their second daughter before TMZ was any the wiser.
The media-shy A-Listers don’t do press releases and are deft at dodging personal questions in interviews. However, Gosling peppers public appearances with references to his family life. He thanked his wife and daughters during his Golden Globe acceptance speech in 2017. In 2016, he made a cheeky birth announcement on Ellen, with a photo of a baby that had Degeneres’ head.
Pink
Having suffered a previous miscarriage,Pink elected to keep her pregnancy with daughter Willow Sage under wraps for as long as possible. And it would have worked except that her husband, motocross racer Carey Hart, confided in someone not clear on the particulars of secret-keeping. Former Good Day L.A. host Jillian Barberie tweeted “Hey, Pink, I'm sooooo happy for you lady!!! Congrats on baby!! Ps. You know your man whispered it to us at dinner. See I CAN keep a secret!!"
Pink eventually made an official announcement on Ellen, but by then it was old news. The “Who Knew” singer schooled Hart, who managed to stay mum about her second pregnancy until a November 2016 Instagram reveal. Pink posted an adorable photo of Willow hugging her advanced baby bump. She birthed a son, Jameson, just one month later.
Megan Fox
Part of the reason the Transformers star was able to keep her third pregnancy a secret was because she and husband of five years Brian Austin Green had just filed for divorce. Megan Fox didn’t hide from the press, but kept her belly covered with bags and jackets whenever she was out and about. Five months in, she finally revealed her baby bump on the red carpet for the premiere of her film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
A Band-Aid baby is usually a terrible idea, but not in Fox and Green’s case. They managed to work out their differences and had called off their divorce by the time Journey River was born in August 2016. They were already parents to sons Noah, 3, and Bodhi, 2.
Angelina Jolie
Jolie probably thought that sticking to voiceover work would allow her to conceal the news of her pregnancy. But her Kung Fu Panda co-star spilled the beans on the red carpet. During a May 2008 interview with Today Show host Natalie Morales, Jack Black quipped to Jolie, "You're going to have as many as The Brady Bunch, when you have these." When Morales sought confirmation, Jolie graciously responded, "Well, Jack just confirmed it actually."
Black later placed blame on his wife for the indiscretion. "[S]he told me, 'Oh yeah, Angelina Jolie's expecting twins,' so I just assumed… she had just read it in the Enquirer or something. I made it official."
Just 2 months later, Jolie and now ex-husband Brad Pitt added twins Knox and Vivienne to their brood, bringing the kid total to 6.
Natalie Portman
In December 2010, reps confirmed not one but two major life events for Star Wars star Natalie Portman: She was engaged to with French choreographer Benjamin Millepied and they were expecting. Portman managed to closely guard the secret of her pregnancy for four months before confirming that she was carrying her first child.
In an official statement, Portman elaborated on her reasons for keeping it confidential for as long as possible. "I have always kept my private life private, but I will say that I am indescribably happy and feel very grateful to have this experience."
The Black Swan actress gave birth to son Aleph in 2011. She and Millepied tied the knot in 2012 and added a daughter, Amalia, to the family in 2017.
Britney Spears
In 2005, when Oops!…I Did it Again” singer Britney Spears and then-husband Kevin Federline were expecting their first child, Sean Preston, they shouted the news from the mountain tops. But when, just a year later, Spears learned she was pregnant with her second child, she waited till well into her second trimester to let her adoring public know that she was once again in the family way.
Spears made the announcement on Late Night With David Letterman, quipping, "Don't worry, Dave, it's not yours.” Feigning relief, Letterman responded, "Oh. Well, I think that's good news for both of us."
Spears gave birth to her second son, Jayden James in October 2006. She and Federline split a few months later.
Alexis Bledel
There’s no telling how long Bledel and her husband, Mad Men’s Vincent Kartheiser, could have concealed the existence of their child were it not for Gilmore Girls co-star, Scott Patterson spilling the beans.
Up to that point, Bledel and Kartheiser had managed to maintain a great deal of privacy, having married in secret 2 years into their relationship. Bledel made it through her entire pregnancy without the press catching wind of it. They had no idea that she had given birth to a son in 2015. It wasn’t until a year later that Patterson blabbed to Glamour Magazine while doing press for the Netflix Gilmore Girls revival: "[Bledel’s] really blossomed as a woman and now she's a proud new mother and married and happy.”
Adele
Despite wearing her heart on her sleeve in her music, Adele remained secretive about her pregnancy, managing to keep it out of the press until she was nearing her third trimester. She made public appearances and even attended several awards shows whilst keeping the news between herself and boyfriend, Simon Konecki.
In June 2012, the mononymed pop star broke the news to fans on her website, saying “'I wanted you to hear the news direct from me, obviously we’re over the moon and very excited but please respect our privacy at this precious time. Yours always, Adele xx”
A short while later, she gave birth to son, Angelo. Though she announced plans to expand her family at the conclusion of her 2016 tour, she has yet to confirm a second pregnancy.
Isla Fisher
If you’ve ever been pregnant, you know how hard it must have been for the Aussie actress to play off her first-trimester nausea. Isla Fisher had just learned she was expecting her second child when production began on the 2010 black comedy, Burke & Hare.
She recalls, "It was troublesome. I was always secretly unlacing my corset and trying to not puke in front of everyone.” Fisher was shocked that co-star Simon Pegg remained none-the-wiser. "I had the worst morning sickness, I was totally ill and I think he just thought I was some bulimic actress from Hollywood and he just ignored it. He never asked!"
Fisher and husband Sacha Baron Cohen, who have always valued their privacy, welcomed their second daughter in August 2010.
Uma Thurman
In 2012, a visible baby bump fueled rumors that the 41-year-old Thurman was expecting her third child. But it was months before the actress made an official announcement. Once the cat was out of the bag, the Kill Bill star showed off her bulging third-trimester belly to paparazzi by hitting the beach in a two-piece.
Later that summer, Thurman welcomed baby Rosalind Arusha Arkadina Altalune Florence. Good luck fitting that on a driver’s license. When asked about the name, Thurman credits her daughter, Maya, who suggested that since she probably wouldn't get to have any more children, she should use “every name that I liked.” Fortunately for her future teachers, they settled on a nickname for the baby. "We call her Luna, so she's lucky that way."
Ali Larter
Early on, the Heroes actress was so worried about exposing her 2009 pregnancy to the press, that she elected to leave the country in order to stay out of the spotlight. She explained to Comic-Con audiences, "It was a very private time for me and my husband [Hayes MacArthur] and something that I just wasn't ready to share, so we actually left the country for a while.”
But after 4 months in self-imposed exile, Larter was tired of hiding. “We came back from Europe, and I said to my husband 'I just want to go to lunch with my girlfriends. I just want to live my life.'”
In December 2010, the couple welcomed son Theodore. In 2015, they added a daughter, Vivienne, to the mix.
Keri Russell
In 2016, another loud-mouth co-star revealed that The Americans actress was expecting her first baby with her onscreen husband, Mathew Rhys.
Keri Russell, who already had 2 children from a previous marriage, frequently wore long coats and carried dossiers to hide her growing baby bump while shooting the hit FX drama. It seemed to be working too. But then Noah Emmerich got chatty on Entertainment Tonight, perhaps not realizing that he was the first to confirm what press had long speculated. “She’s always standing behind a huge counter with a toaster on it,” said Emmerich about how the pregnancy had effected the show’s production and storyline.
The private Russell and Rhys had previously worked to keep their relationship quiet for as long as possible.
Jennifer Garner
Already a mother of two, Jennifer Garner was a seasoned pro at playing off first-trimester symptoms by the third time around. Despite experiencing frequent bouts of morning sickness, the Alias actress filmed the entirety of her part in The Invention of Lying while deftly remaining deep undercover regarding her condition.
In the New York Post, the film’s director Matthew Robinson marveled at her ability to stay perky on set, telling press he never had a clue. “We didn’t notice because she came out every morning smiling. We only found out when it was announced in the press.”
Garner and then-husband Ben Affleck added son Samuel to their brood in February 2012. The couple were already parents to girls Violet, 6, and Seraphina, 3.
Anna Kournikova
The general public had no clue that Russian tennis star Anna Kournikova had been expecting twins until after she gave birth to them. Kournikova and 42-year-old singer Enrique Iglesias were together for almost a decade before they decided to start a family. Incredibly, she flew under the radar for the duration of her pregnancy.
They managed to keep the news out of the press by spending time only with tight-lipped close friends and family throughout the twins’ gestation. It probably helped that 36-year-old Kournikova’s belly stayed relatively small, so that no one who wasn’t let in on the secret would be any the wiser.
In December 2017, the couple shocked fans when they welcomed a boy and a girl named Nicholas and Lucy respectively.
Jessica Simpson
Though she had been showing for quite a while, the “I Wanna Love You Forever” singer nonetheless attempted to conceal her bump when she became pregnant with her first child. Three months in, she finally confirmed what the rumor mill had suspected for quite some time, with a cheeky tweeted photo on Halloween 2011. Donning wild blonde curls and a sparkly body wrap, she wrote, “It’s true. I am going to be a mummy.”
In May 2012, Simpson and then-fiancé Eric Johnson introduced the world to their new daughter, Maxwell Drew. Just 7 months later, Simpson and Johnson dropped a baby bomb on themselves when Jessica discovered she was already knocked up with baby number 2. They rolled with it and in June 2013, Maxwell became big sister to a baby boy called Ace Knute.
Jennifer Lopez
It’s not easy to hide a baby belly that contains twins, especially if the mom-to-be is a tiny Hollywood starlet. Nevertheless, Jennifer Lopez epeatedly denied pregnancy rumors until she was well into her second trimester.
During the final show of her 2007 concert tour, she finally owned up to being knocked up, confessing to a Miami audience, "Marc and I are expecting… You don't mind if I catch my breath for a minute?"
Lopez and fellow pop star Marc Anthony welcomed boy and girl twins Max and Emme in February 2008. Lopez later admitted to Harper’s Bazaar that her pregnancy was a poorly kept secret. “I kind of feel like everybody knew anyway. I was on tour with a bubble gut!”
Claire Danes
Because she plays top CIA officer Carrie Mathison on Homeland, star Claire Danes had both a personal and narrative interest in keeping her 2012 pregnancy top secret. Word got out after four month but Danes was still shooting the second season of the hit Showtime drama.
Since Mathison was in no position to have a baby the writers had to get strategic. Unfortunately for Danes, the action didn’t slow down on Homeland. “At one point, we were shooting in an old sewage factory. I was kidnapped, I was chained to a pipe, it was 4 a.m., I was 7½ months pregnant, and I was like, 'This sucks.’”
In December 2012, Danes and fellow actor Hugh Dancy welcomed son Cyrus. The Homeland writers wouldn’t make Carrie a mother until season 4.
Laura Linney
Laura Linney insists that she hadn’t intentionally concealed her 2014 pregnancy. Because of her age, the 49-year-old elected not to “advertise it” on account of the increased risk she faced. Live host Kelly Ripa talked to Linney after the birth of her son Bennett Armistead, and was shocked at how well The Big C actress had kept it under wraps.
Ripa exclaimed, “You were on our show and pregnant, and we didn’t even know!” Linney explained, “Well, I was an older mother-to-be, and it had taken me a very long time to have a child… I wanted to make sure that my child actually arrived, and was safe and healthy.” Linney was sure it would get out eventually, but was shocked when, at 8 months along, she “was going to the theater… no one said a thing!”
Mindy Kaling
Though Mindy Lahiri had a baby in season 5 of The Mindy Project, creator and star Kaling didn’t get knocked up in real life until season 6. Unfortunately, there wasn’t room in the narrative for another baby, so Kaling and Co. had to get creative.
“I shot the entire last season pregnant and [they] hid it so well!” she wrote on Twitter. “The finale I was almost 7 months along and it was a heat wave. See if you can tell…”
Kaling never intended to make a public announcement about her pregnancy, but Oprah had other plans. “She was very excited… You can't complain that much about it. I think I learned a long time ago that it is probably not a good idea to reprimand Oprah.”
Lucille Ball
Comedy legend Lucille Ball was deep into her first pregnancy before the premiere of her star-making sitcom, I Love Lucy. But in 1951, being pregnant on TV was a huge no-no. The production went to great lengths to conceal her condition, putting the actress underneath aprons and behind counters.
But when Ball found herself knocked up with an Irish twin for baby Lucie, she convinced the writers to boldly write the pregnancy into the show’s narrative. They were still forbidden from using the word “pregnant”, which required a lot of creativity. Advertisers were relieved when the storyline did anything but alienate viewers. A record 44 million people tuned in to the birth episode, “Lucy Goes to the Hospital”. 12 hours before broadcast, Ball had given birth to Dezi Arnaz Jr. in real life.