8 Actresses Who Had to Hide Their Pregnancy During Filming

When it comes to filming movies and TV shows, there’s always a chance something might go wrong. Imagine plotting out the whole season only to have the lead actress hit you with the “I’m pregnant” news. A lesser director would be furious, but there were times when such situations were cleverly written into the script or masterfully hidden on the screen.

1. Ginnifer Goodwin — Once Upon a Time

Remember Once Upon A Time? It’s one of those “love it or hate it” shows with no in-betweens. Reimagining the old fairy tales is great, but what do you do when your lead actress playing Snow White suddenly gets knocked up? Naturally, you blame it all on Prince Charming and move the plot forward. The funny thing is that Ginnifer met the baby’s father on the set of Once Upon a Time, and they probably lived happily ever after.

2. Melissa Rauch — The Big Bang Theory

In season 10 of The Big Bang Theory, Howard and Bernadette had a scripted baby already, so when Melissa, the actress portraying Bernadette, got prego for real while filming the last season, the director just said, “screw it,” and let the on-screen couple have another baby. This, of course, meant that the 11th season felt a bit derivative, but hey, it’s a miracle this show lasted for that long anyway!

3. Marcia Cross — Desperate Housewives

Sometimes the script just doesn’t have any wiggle room when it comes to pregnancy. But you can’t just stop filming for who knows how many months, so you adapt and overcome these obstacles. Marcia was 44 years old when she got the news about her pregnancy, but her character on Desperate Housewives had no intention of becoming a mother. And so Bree, the character, started wearing loose sweaters and baggy clothes to hide the baby bump. It’s not the most creative solution, but it does work.