Prop Departments Working Overtime Hiding Prime Time Bumps
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There is no shortage of pregnant stars gracing the small screen at the moment, but television viewers would be hard-pressed to spot a bump. That’s because the vast majority of characters being portrayed by celebrity moms-to-be have not been written as moms-to-be! “Blue scrubs and lab coats hide quite a lot,” ER star Parminder Nagra, expecting a baby in late spring, tells Access Hollywood. “I actually have a pair of my own custom made maternity scrubs courtesy of our wonderful wardrobe department made with stretchy fabric to fit round the bump…The guys at ER have been extremely supportive,” she adds.
Ugly Betty actress Ana Ortiz, expecting a daughter in July, has had a similar experience. “What’s amazing to me is to see these huge guys who are part of the crew for the show, turn into big teddy bears,” she notes.
“They take such good care of me. Who knew? Chivalry is not dead after all, at least not on the Ugly Betty set. The subway is a different story.”
Unlike Parminder, Ana won’t have the attire of a surgeon to hide behind! “It’s not going to be easy,” she admits. “Hilda Suarez is not one for the baggy look. She’ll probably be standing behind her salon chair a lot.” Grey’s Anatomy star Chyler Leigh will make the most of her role as a doctor on the hit ABC show, however. Due May 15th with daughter Aniston Kay, Chyler says that since hitting the six month mark she’s “totally showing” and scrubs are no longer “cutting it” in the ongoing effort to conceal her bump.
“You’ll begin to see me carrying various medical items (charts, notepads, etc.) more often…I keep wondering when the transition from carrying charts to pushing wheelchairs to pushing gurneys to close up face shots in the [operating room] will happen. I guess the positive is, I’ll have really buff arms from all the carrying and pushing of random medical equipment.”
Click below to read Jill Scott’s thoughts on filming while pregnant.
For No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency actress Jill Scott, finding out she was expecting her first child — a boy due April 25th — just one day before a 20+ hour flight to Africa to begin filming the HBO show was daunting, to say the least. “Working while pregnant is not an easy task especially when working in 100 degree weather in Botswana, Africa,” she notes. Still, she counts herself as among the lucky ones. “My role in the movie didn’t have me running marathons or doing anything that would’ve caused harm to me or the baby so it didn’t affect me much while filming aside from the sickness.”
“As hard and hot as it was I just had to be mindful of that. Luckily also, my character role didn’t need me to lose weight especially when it was impossible to do that being pregnant so there was no need to hide my pregnancy.”
Other pregnant prime-time actresses include How I Met Your Mother co-stars Alyson Hannigan (due in April) and Cobie Smulders (due in late spring), Brothers and Sisters star Rachel Griffiths (due in July), Gossip Girl star Kelly Rutherford (due in June), Life star Sarah Shahi (due in August) and Worst Week star Erinn Hayes (due in May).
Source: Access Hollywood
Do you watch any of these shows? Have you noticed the bellies on-screen, or are they doing a good job hiding the pregnancies?
- Posted on Mar 17, 09 at 8:00PM
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- 22 Comments
March 17th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
I watch ER, Grey’s and Ugly Betty and haven’t noticed any of those acctresses. I think more than the belly you just noice the differences in the faces of the mommys to be and the different behavior they give them, by making them hide all the time.
March 17th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
The HIMYM gals’ pregnancies are pretty obvious.
March 17th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
I think Chyler definitely looked pregnant on last week’s Grey’s. It wasn’t incredibly obvious, but you could see it some in her stomach.
March 17th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
HIMYM filmed their season finale back in January to accommodate Colbie and Alyson’s pregnancies.
March 17th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Due to this site and some of the magazines I read (People and Entertainment Weekly) I know they are pregnant, so I am kind of looking for the bump! But for the most part, they are doing a good job hiding the bellies. Alyson Hannigan’s all-you-can-eat contest belly was my favorite so far
LOL!
March 17th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
i watch some of these shows, and the only one that’s gotten pretty obvious at times is sarah on a recent episode of Life. my sister doesn’t normally watch the show, but the first thing she said when sarah’s character came on screen was “is that character pregnant?” the character isn’t, but sarah sure looked it already.
on gossip girl, kelly’s character hasn’t been featured much lately; i can’t remember when last we saw her actually.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
None of these, but I LOVED on Will and Grace where they didn’t bother at all hiding it or writing it in – it as just a running joke. Perfect!
March 17th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Oh duh, yes, GG I watch too! But this was the first week it had been on in a while and Kelly wasn’t on this week at all.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
On Grey’s, Chyler Leigh is totally showing…
March 17th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
When watching Grey’s the other day, I noticed that Chyler Leigh looked pregnant and totally forgot she was until I saw the episode.
Last night, my husband mentioned that Cobie Smulders looked like she had gained weight in her face. Of course, Alyson Hannigan is very obviously pregnant, always sitting with a bump under her shirt.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Yeah, I was just about to mention “Will & Grace” lol. They really didn’t try hiding Debra Messing’s pregnancy and you could very much tell she was pregnant anyway since she was much fuller in the face, and chest.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
I completely noticed Sarah Shahi’s bump on life! I kept trying to point it out to him husband during the shows haha. I’m pretty upset they are pretty much cutting her out of the show for now though. I think she’s part of what makes it work. I’m happy for her though! It would have been interesting for them to right it in…with her boss!
March 18th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Billie Piper was very obviously pregnant in the last season of Secret Diary of a Call Girl. The character changed clothing styles – lots of baggy t-shirts and jackets – and a lot more close-up face shots. There was also a noticeable boob difference between her clothed scenes and her naked (body double) scenes.
March 18th, 2009 at 1:27 am
Lily (Kelly Rutherford) looks pregnant on Gossip Girl. They either don’t seem to try and hide it at all or they are ridiculously obvious about her holding something in front of her stomach. It makes my sister and I laugh!
March 18th, 2009 at 1:30 am
I am a HUGE ER fan and what they are doing a lot with Parminder is filming her from the chest up or when she is walking down the hall she has a chart in front of her stomach. And as she said she is always in the blue scrubs. I wouldn’t have noticed unless I already knew.
As for GG, it just came back on after a like two month hiatus and she wasn’t on the last epi so I don’t know how they are doing with hiding it. We’ll see how it goes as the season moves along
March 18th, 2009 at 2:33 am
I remember them doing funny things with C.C. on “The Nanny” when the actress, Lauren Lane was pregnant. LOL!
March 18th, 2009 at 9:11 am
The best case was for ‘JJ’ (can’t remember the actress’ name, whoops) on Criminal Minds. Just before they talked about her pregnancy, her face was rounder. You could see straight away. Of course the character could be pregnant without really affecting her storyline… for others like Rebecca Romjin who is/was supposed to be a transexual on Ugly Betty, it’s another story…
March 18th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
I remember that about Lauren Lane too Ashley! They made no effort to hide it whatsoever and they even made jokes about the ridiculous things shows do to hide pregnancies, while she was carrying a briefcase in front of that didn’t even hide her belly!
And I remember when Jane Leeves was pregnant on Frasier they decided to have her character just be eating a lot and gain weight, and send her off to fat camp. That was pretty clever too I thought.
March 18th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
I think celeb pregnancies come in cycles. 2008 started out as the year of the A list pregnancy, then the year of the second pregnancy, and i think 2009 is the year of the TV actress pregnancy.
And don’t forget Molly Ringwald on Secret Life…
March 19th, 2009 at 6:18 am
Lilybett-
I still can’t get over that they shot her from the side while walking down the stairs! I even thought they had written the pregnancy in the storyline, that’d be an interesting one
March 20th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Molly looks pregnant on the show now as well. I keep wondering when it’s going to be writen into the show
March 20th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
chyler def looked pg on Grey’s, I remember The Nanny & Will & Grace, don’t watch much of the others….:(love to keep up on here too see who pops early or late though….;)there are ALOT of TV stars pg this year!!!! Neat after the strike last year