Sometimes actresses get pregnant, and writing it into the show is not always an option.
Instead, shows have to get creative and find ways to hide the pregnancies. This has been done numerous ways, from shooting only the neck up, having the actress mostly sitting, or plopping random objects in front of them.
Some of these shows legitimately tried to hide the pregnancies, while others opted to poke fun at the obvious baby bumps.
Check out our list of 17 of our favorite attempts to hide a pregnancy on TV!
Snow – Once Upon A Time
Is she trying to hide a baby or did she just shoplift a tv? OUaT decided to write in Ginnifer Goodwin’s pregnancy, but that only applied to Storybrook. The baby bump still had to be concealed for Snow’s scenes in the Enchanted Forest, and they figured enormous cloaks were the way to go.
Amy – Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Amy’s usual pant suits were probably not the best way to hide a pregnancy, so Brooklyn Nine-Nine sent Jake and Amy on a cruise full of flowy Hawaiian shirts, giant purses, and hand rails to use to cover Melissa Fumero’s growing baby bump!
Olivia – Scandal
Scandal came up with all kinds of ways to hide Kerry Washington’s pregnancy including strategic use of lamps. Still, this one is funny because she’s sitting on the floor when there’s a perfectly comfortable couch right behind her. It is probably a good thing they ended the season early, because they were clearly running out of ideas!
Leslie – Parks and Recreation
Not too many shows can say they used a time capsule to hide an actress’s pregnancy, but Parks and Rec can! Leslie is holding all kinds of stuff in this picture, but was she supposed to be holding it a little lower? It’s not exactly effective in hiding the bump.
Claire – Modern Family
Julie Bowen was pregnant with twins when shooting the pilot for Modern Family, so producers had to get creative – hiding her belly behind laundry, blankets, etc. Apparently her family even made a drinking game out of watching the pilot and drank every time they did something to hide it!
Meredith/Lexie/Arizona – Grey’s Anatomy
Grey’s had to go through this a few times. They shipped Arizona off to Africa for a couple of months, made Lexie “stress eat” and comment on the weight she was gaining, and had Meredith donate a portion of her liver to her father. At least Grey’s can get away with baggy scrubs and large lab coats.
C.C. – The Nanny
The Nanny decided to have a bit of fun with Lauren Lane’s pregnancy, using blatantly obvious props to hide it, such as this giant Broadway poster. They also wrote in a plot device in which she gains weight, loses her sanity, and even has to be institutionalized!
Lily – How I Met Your Mother
We learned that Lily was a hot dog eating champ, once eating 29 hot dogs in 8 minutes, earning her the nickname “the belly.” Of course, after winning, she just had to show off her super stuffed stomach not just once, but twice! She later broke her own record at MacLaren’s.
Grace – The Mentalist
Grace basically spent the season stuck behind a desk or hiding behind random objects like boxes, purses, and even a water cooler. It was almost like a game to see what new thing she would be sitting or standing behind next!
Lemon – Hart of Dixie
Unlike Rachel Bilson, who’s pregnancy was written into the show, Jaime King’s Lemon Breeland had to hide behind tables, flowers, purses, and bottles of ketchup and mustard, all before being shipped out of Bluebell to care for an ailing grandmother.
Angela – The Office
When your setting is an office, it makes hiding a pregnancy a little easier. Angela hid behind her desk, the copier, doorways, and whatever else they could find. But, not every scene was in the office, so that’s where things like throw pillows came in.
Jenna – 30 Rock
In season 5, Tracy Morgan was written out for most of it because of his kidney transplant, so when Jane Krakowski got pregnant, they couldn’t afford to write her out too. While most of the season they employed the standard scarf, purse, folder cover-ups, the dog costume used in the season finale was by far the best belly bump disguise.
Jess – New Girl
Poor Jess has been in bed, on a scooter, and is now sequestered for jury duty. We appreciate New Girl’s originality in hiding Zooey Deschanel’s pregnancy, but we really miss seeing all of Jess’ adorable dresses!
Betty – Mad Men
Instead of writing in her pregnancy, the writers chose to write in her weight gain, even going as far as to give the character a cancer scare. January Jones actually had to wear a fat suit during filming to hide her pregnancy!
Hilary – The Young and the Restless
Holy crap that is one enormous bridal bouquet! Isn’t there a limit to how much a pregnant person should lift, because that looks like it’s pushing it. To be fair, it is hard to tell she’s pregnant, so mission accomplished. Plus, when a show airs fives days a week, it becomes necessary to get creative.
Grace – Will and Grace
They dressed Grace in a black dress, which makes sense for hiding her pregnancy. But, then they had her hold a tiny, brightly colored blanket which draws attention to her belly more than distracts from it. It would have made more sense to push that giant bowl of fruit in front of her instead.
Monica – Friends
Those poor Friends writers. After just telling a story about how Monica couldn’t get pregnant…Courtney Cox goes and gets pregnant. It was the final season, and Monica and Chandler had just adopted twins. Nothing like using an actual baby to hide a baby bump!
The post 17 Hilarious Attempts at Hiding Pregnancies on TV appeared first on TV Fanatic.