ADVERTISEMENT
Welcome to Mothership: Parenting stories you actually want to read, whether you're thinking about or passing on kids, from egg-freezing to taking home baby and beyond. Because motherhood is a big if — not when — and it's time we talked about it that way.
You don't need us to tell you how babies are born. But if you're wondering why so many female TV stars have spent a good chunk of their careers wandering around the set with laundry baskets, super-sized Birkins, and large grocery sacks, we've got your answer.
Sometimes, kids, an actress becomes pregnant, and the writers on her show aren't ready to have the character she plays follow suit. Blame it on timing, or character development. Imagine Seinfeld's Elaine Benes having Kramer babysit her kid, or Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw procreating with Big right when he'd moved to Napa — and just after Miranda had gone through her own major pregnancy storyline.
When showrunners don't want to add a kid into the mix, they have a few options. They can adjust shooting dates. They can go the Mad Men and Frasier route and make a character pile on the pounds. They can shoot from the neck up, stock up on empire-waist tops and baggy overcoats, and let the stunt doubles work overtime. Or they can just plop the mama-to-be behind a big desk and give her something large to carry.
Lucy Ricardo, Clair Huxtable, Grace Adler, Dana Scully, Betty Draper, and Olivia Pope are just a few of the beloved TV characters who were definitely not pregnant — at the time — even though the women who portrayed them were. Can you tell?
Read These Stories Next:
ADVERTISEMENT