Real or Fake pregnancies on t.v. shows - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Ireneparalegal · 11-30-2007, 06:16 PM

This is abt actresses (sitcoms, dramas or soaps) who either were pregnant and had their pregnancies written into the show or had their pregnancy hidden or characters who were pregnant but the actress was not in real life:

LUCILLE BALL - I LOVE LUCY: Pregnant in real-life and had her pregnancy written into the show. Lucy was five months along when the Lucy Ricardo character revealed to Ricky she was pregnant. Regardless of the outcome of Lucy's baby (boy or girl) the writers already had established Lucy Ricardo would give birth to a boy. By coincidence, Lucy gave birth to Desi Jr. the same night the episode aired of Lucy Ricardo giving birth to a son.

SHELLEY LONG - CHEERS: She became pregnant during the 1984-85 season, but the writers didn't want to write that into the show as it would alter the character and any future storylines. The staff came up with the idea of Diane and new beau, Frasier vacationing in Europe. They filmed those scenes early in the season before she was showing and then placed them in episodes later in the year. During the early stages of the pregnancy she deftly hid behind the bar or a tray. And when it was impossible to hide her anymore they had the Europe episodes to show.

RHEA PERLMAN - CHEERS: Rhea became pregnant during the same season as Shelley Long but the writers DID write the pregnancy in.

KIRSTIE ALLEY - CHEERS: When Kirstie Alley became pregnant in the 10th season, the show's writers planned for her character, Rebecca, to have conceived a child with Sam. However, Kirstie Alley had a miscarriage and the plot was abandoned.

KATEY SAGAL - MARRIED WITH CHILDREN: In 1991, Katey Sagal discovered she was pregnant. This was unexpected to the directors of Married... With Children. The pregnancy was written in to the storyline of the show. However, she ended up having an emergency caesarean section in her 7th month of pregnancy; the child, Ruby, was stillborn. The pregnancy on the show then turned out to be a "dream."

NELLIE OLSEN - LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE: The character married and eventually became pregnant. Her parents and in-laws were fighting over whether the child would be raised as jewish or christian. They decided if it was a boy, jewish he would be raised. If it was a girl, she would be raised as a christian. Nellie ended up giving birth to a boy and a girl.

CAROLINE INGALLS - LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE: Caroline was pregnant and gave birth to a boy. Her husband wanted a boy after already having three daughters. But the baby later died. Caroline's character was pregnant in another season and she desperately wanted to give Charles a son again. She later gave birth to Baby Grace.

MARY INGALLS - LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE: Mary was pregnant but later had a miscarriage. In another season Mary again became pregnant and had a baby boy. Sadly, the baby would die in a fire later in the show.

LAURA INGALLS - LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE: Laura became pregnant and later gave birth to Rose. In another season she became pregnant again, and just like history repeating itself, she had a son who became sick and later died.

MARY ELLEN WALTON - THE WALTONS: The eldest daughter became pregnant and had a son. Shortly after giving birth, her son was kidnapped by a girl who had lost her own child during birth and wanted a baby desperately. Eventually the baby was returned to Mary Ellen.

SONDRA - THE COSBY SHOW: The eldest daughter of Cliff Huxtable gave birth to a boy and a girl whom she named Winnie and Nelson. Named after the then-married Nelson Mandela and his wife.

Ireneparalegal · 11-30-2007, 06:43 PM

ROSEANNE - ROSEANNE: Roseanne was pregnant in real-life by her then husband Ben. She had the pregnancy written into the show. She gave birth to a son in real life and her character also had a son.

JACKIE - ROSEANNE: Laurie Metcalfe who played Jackie, had her real life pregnancy written into the show as well.

DARLENE CONNER HEALY - ROSEANNE: Darlene became pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl who was very sick. It wasn't certain if the baby would live or not. Happily, the baby did live.

friendsfan77 · 11-30-2007, 06:45 PM

Lisa Bonet - became pregnant in real life with Lenny Kravitz's kid in 1988, so she left spin-off A Different World and returned to The Cosby Show. Her character Denise dropped out of Hillman College.

AB · 11-30-2007, 07:44 PM

Lauren Lane - C C Babcock on The Nanny was pregnant in real life but they tried to keep it hidden on the show.

bingbangbaby · 11-30-2007, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by annball1957

Lauren Lane - C C Babcock on The Nanny was pregnant in real life but they tried to keep it hidden on the show.

LOL well...more like they totally ignored it

I thought that was ingenious actually that they didn't even try to hide it...just pretended she wasn't

fullhousefan91619 · 11-30-2007, 10:28 PM

Melissa Peterman on Reba, also ignored the fact she was pregnant. When she was really showing, they had an episode about her character gaining a lot of weight, and goes on a diet.

freshprinceofLA · 11-30-2007, 10:44 PM

Janet Hubert-Whitten it was written into The Fresh Prince of Bel Air as the birth of Nicky there was something in her contract I think where it said that getting pregnant would be a violation in her contract. She was fired after that season.

Ireneparalegal · 11-30-2007, 11:55 PM

LEAH REMINI - KING OF QUEENS: The actress was pregnant but it was not written into the show. We seen Leah hiding it behind big coats, other clothing and standing behind things. However, it was obvious she was pregnant, the character was one of the stars and she was needed to do many things in scenes. It wasn't like some of the larger cast shows where others could take over the scene.

Dean Winchester · 12-01-2007, 12:09 AM

Lisa Kudrow - Friends. Kudrow was pregnant in real life, so they made Phoebe a surrogate mother to her half-brother and his wife

Sex And The City:
Sarah Jessica Parker was pregnant during the fifth season, which was shortened from 18 to 8 episodes sto avoid making the character of Carrie pregnant and it wrapped before Sarah began to seriously show.

The season before, they wrote in Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) as pregnant. She had a baby at the end of the fourth season. Oddly enough, she actually wound up pregnant in real life the next season at the same time Sarah Jessica was pregnant as well, so a lot of Miranda's "post-baby weight" was actually Cynthia's "pregnancy weight".

Seinfeld: Julia Louis-Dreyfus had two babies during the shows' run, one in 1992 (which explained why she was missing at the start of season 4, maternity leave) and again in the seventh or eighth season.

Heidi Dawn · 12-01-2007, 12:15 AM

Real-life pregnancies written into the show:

Lisa Kudrow - Friends
Meredith Baxter Birney - Family Ties
Markie Post - Night Court
Priscilla Presley - Dallas
Cybill Shepard - Moonlighting
Julia Duffy - Newhart
Jean Smart - Designing Women
Elizabeth Montgomery - Bewitched
Cindy Williams - Laverne & Shirley (she only did 2 episodes in the last season, with her last episode announcing that she was pregnant)

Real-life pregnancies hidden:

Phylicia Rashad - The Cosby Show
Lisa Bonet - The Cosby Show
Dana Plato - Diff'rent Strokes (she was actually fired after she had Tyler)
Charlene Tilton - Dallas
Shanna Reed - Major Dad
Marilu Henner - Evening Shade
Courtney Cox Arquette - Friends
Julia Louis-Dreyfuss - Seinfeld
Barbara Eden - I Dream Of Jeannie
Annie Potts - Designing Women

Actresses not pregnant at the time of the tv pregnancy (I checked on IMDB when their kids were born, if they had any):

Lori Loughlin - Full House
Sally Struthers - All in the Family
Joanna Kerns - Growing Pains
Peri Gilpin - Frasier
Linda Kaye Henning - Petticoat Junction
Sara Gilbert - Roseanne
Linda Gray - Dallas
Susan Howard - Dallas
Candice Bergen - Murphy Brown
Lauri Hendler - Gimme A Break
Jennifer Aniston - Friends
MacKenzie Phillips - One Day At A Time

Actresses that I'm not sure about:

Melanie Wilson & Rebecca Arthur - Perfect Strangers
Betsy Randall - Boy Meets World
Berlinda Tolbert - The Jeffersons
Lynda Goodfriend - Happy Days
Georgia Engel - The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Joyce Bulifant - The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Ireneparalegal · 12-01-2007, 12:28 AM

COURTNEY THORNE SMITH - ACCORDING TO JIM: ATJ will return in January 2008 with the lead actress, Courtney Thorne Smith pregnant on-screen as she is in real life. She is due to give birth in January.

Mikado · 12-01-2007, 12:44 AM

Sally Struthers was pregnant when she and Rob made their last guest appearance on AITF/ABP , but, since Mike had supposedly had a vasectomy, they said Gloria was just "getting fat" (The ep when The Bunkers learn their daughter had an affair)

Ireneparalegal · 12-01-2007, 12:51 AM

WHITLEY GILBERT WAYNE - A DIFFERENT WORLD: The character Whitley found out during the series finale episodes (two-parter) she was pregnant.

THELMA EVANS ANDERSON - GOOD TIMES: The character Thelma, discovered during the series finale episode that she is pregnant.

Dean Winchester · 12-01-2007, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikado

Sally Struthers was pregnant when she and Rob made their last guest appearance on AITF/ABP , but, since Mike had supposedly had a vasectomy, they said Gloria was just "getting fat" (The ep when The Bunkers learn their daughter had an affair)

what foreshadowing

Ireneparalegal · 12-01-2007, 01:02 AM

Is that from South Park?

11-30-2007, 06:16 PM	#1
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,689	Real or Fake pregnancies on t.v. shows This is abt actresses (sitcoms, dramas or soaps) who either were pregnant and had their pregnancies written into the show or had their pregnancy hidden or characters who were pregnant but the actress was not in real life: LUCILLE BALL - I LOVE LUCY: Pregnant in real-life and had her pregnancy written into the show. Lucy was five months along when the Lucy Ricardo character revealed to Ricky she was pregnant. Regardless of the outcome of Lucy's baby (boy or girl) the writers already had established Lucy Ricardo would give birth to a boy. By coincidence, Lucy gave birth to Desi Jr. the same night the episode aired of Lucy Ricardo giving birth to a son. SHELLEY LONG - CHEERS: She became pregnant during the 1984-85 season, but the writers didn't want to write that into the show as it would alter the character and any future storylines. The staff came up with the idea of Diane and new beau, Frasier vacationing in Europe. They filmed those scenes early in the season before she was showing and then placed them in episodes later in the year. During the early stages of the pregnancy she deftly hid behind the bar or a tray. And when it was impossible to hide her anymore they had the Europe episodes to show. RHEA PERLMAN - CHEERS: Rhea became pregnant during the same season as Shelley Long but the writers DID write the pregnancy in. KIRSTIE ALLEY - CHEERS: When Kirstie Alley became pregnant in the 10th season, the show's writers planned for her character, Rebecca, to have conceived a child with Sam. However, Kirstie Alley had a miscarriage and the plot was abandoned. KATEY SAGAL - MARRIED WITH CHILDREN: In 1991, Katey Sagal discovered she was pregnant. This was unexpected to the directors of Married... With Children. The pregnancy was written in to the storyline of the show. However, she ended up having an emergency caesarean section in her 7th month of pregnancy; the child, Ruby, was stillborn. The pregnancy on the show then turned out to be a "dream." NELLIE OLSEN - LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE: The character married and eventually became pregnant. Her parents and in-laws were fighting over whether the child would be raised as jewish or christian. They decided if it was a boy, jewish he would be raised. If it was a girl, she would be raised as a christian. Nellie ended up giving birth to a boy and a girl. CAROLINE INGALLS - LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE: Caroline was pregnant and gave birth to a boy. Her husband wanted a boy after already having three daughters. But the baby later died. Caroline's character was pregnant in another season and she desperately wanted to give Charles a son again. She later gave birth to Baby Grace. MARY INGALLS - LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE: Mary was pregnant but later had a miscarriage. In another season Mary again became pregnant and had a baby boy. Sadly, the baby would die in a fire later in the show. LAURA INGALLS - LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE: Laura became pregnant and later gave birth to Rose. In another season she became pregnant again, and just like history repeating itself, she had a son who became sick and later died. MARY ELLEN WALTON - THE WALTONS: The eldest daughter became pregnant and had a son. Shortly after giving birth, her son was kidnapped by a girl who had lost her own child during birth and wanted a baby desperately. Eventually the baby was returned to Mary Ellen. SONDRA - THE COSBY SHOW: The eldest daughter of Cliff Huxtable gave birth to a boy and a girl whom she named Winnie and Nelson. Named after the then-married Nelson Mandela and his wife.
	__________________ DALLAS COWBOYS ARE HERE AT TRAINING CAMP!!!

11-30-2007, 10:44 PM	#7
freshprinceofLA The Bosses Senior Member Join Date: Aug 09, 2005 Location: A small town in: Los Angeles, California Posts: 2,810	Janet Hubert-Whitten it was written into The Fresh Prince of Bel Air as the birth of Nicky there was something in her contract I think where it said that getting pregnant would be a violation in her contract. She was fired after that season.
	__________________ My favorite show is... Who's the boss? #2 Three's Company #3 Moonlighting RELEASE ALL SEASONS OF WHO'S THE BOSS? ON DVD Watch ION at 9:00 to 10:00 I <3 SAMANTHA! RAIDERS SUCK R.I.P. PAC & BIG we miss yall

12-01-2007, 12:15 AM	#10
Heidi Dawn Muppets Forum Regular Join Date: Jan 01, 2003 Location: Canada Posts: 883	Real-life pregnancies written into the show: Lisa Kudrow - Friends Meredith Baxter Birney - Family Ties Markie Post - Night Court Priscilla Presley - Dallas Cybill Shepard - Moonlighting Julia Duffy - Newhart Jean Smart - Designing Women Elizabeth Montgomery - Bewitched Cindy Williams - Laverne & Shirley (she only did 2 episodes in the last season, with her last episode announcing that she was pregnant) Real-life pregnancies hidden: Phylicia Rashad - The Cosby Show Lisa Bonet - The Cosby Show Dana Plato - Diff'rent Strokes (she was actually fired after she had Tyler) Charlene Tilton - Dallas Shanna Reed - Major Dad Marilu Henner - Evening Shade Courtney Cox Arquette - Friends Julia Louis-Dreyfuss - Seinfeld Barbara Eden - I Dream Of Jeannie Annie Potts - Designing Women Actresses not pregnant at the time of the tv pregnancy (I checked on IMDB when their kids were born, if they had any): Lori Loughlin - Full House Sally Struthers - All in the Family Joanna Kerns - Growing Pains Peri Gilpin - Frasier Linda Kaye Henning - Petticoat Junction Sara Gilbert - Roseanne Linda Gray - Dallas Susan Howard - Dallas Candice Bergen - Murphy Brown Lauri Hendler - Gimme A Break Jennifer Aniston - Friends MacKenzie Phillips - One Day At A Time Actresses that I'm not sure about: Melanie Wilson & Rebecca Arthur - Perfect Strangers Betsy Randall - Boy Meets World Berlinda Tolbert - The Jeffersons Lynda Goodfriend - Happy Days Georgia Engel - The Mary Tyler Moore Show Joyce Bulifant - The Mary Tyler Moore Show
	__________________ Complete Series Box Sets I own: MASH, Three's Company, Gilligan's Island, The Dukes Of Hazzard, The Golden Girls, The Monkees, The Brady Bunch, Full House, I Dream Of Jeannie, Bewitched, Taxi, Gimme A Break, Dallas, Charlie's Angels, Joanie Loves Chachi, Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, The Cosby Show, The Facts of Life, Family Ties, Diff'rent Strokes, Green Acres.

11-30-2007, 06:43 PM	#2
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,689	ROSEANNE - ROSEANNE: Roseanne was pregnant in real-life by her then husband Ben. She had the pregnancy written into the show. She gave birth to a son in real life and her character also had a son. JACKIE - ROSEANNE: Laurie Metcalfe who played Jackie, had her real life pregnancy written into the show as well. DARLENE CONNER HEALY - ROSEANNE: Darlene became pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl who was very sick. It wasn't certain if the baby would live or not. Happily, the baby did live.

11-30-2007, 06:45 PM	#3
friendsfan77 - Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 02, 2004 Location: Duluth, GA Posts: 3,165	Lisa Bonet - became pregnant in real life with Lenny Kravitz's kid in 1988, so she left spin-off A Different World and returned to The Cosby Show. Her character Denise dropped out of Hillman College.

11-30-2007, 07:44 PM	#4
AB Member Eternal Member Forum Icon Join Date: Dec 26, 2006 Location: The South Posts: 59,426	Lauren Lane - C C Babcock on The Nanny was pregnant in real life but they tried to keep it hidden on the show.

11-30-2007, 10:28 PM	#6
fullhousefan91619 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Dec 11, 2005 Posts: 329	Melissa Peterman on Reba, also ignored the fact she was pregnant. When she was really showing, they had an episode about her character gaining a lot of weight, and goes on a diet.

11-30-2007, 11:55 PM	#8
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,689	LEAH REMINI - KING OF QUEENS: The actress was pregnant but it was not written into the show. We seen Leah hiding it behind big coats, other clothing and standing behind things. However, it was obvious she was pregnant, the character was one of the stars and she was needed to do many things in scenes. It wasn't like some of the larger cast shows where others could take over the scene.

12-01-2007, 12:09 AM	#9
Dean Winchester Member Forum Fanatic Join Date: Sep 28, 2003 Location: Louisville KY Posts: 14,803	Lisa Kudrow - Friends. Kudrow was pregnant in real life, so they made Phoebe a surrogate mother to her half-brother and his wife Sex And The City: Sarah Jessica Parker was pregnant during the fifth season, which was shortened from 18 to 8 episodes sto avoid making the character of Carrie pregnant and it wrapped before Sarah began to seriously show. The season before, they wrote in Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) as pregnant. She had a baby at the end of the fourth season. Oddly enough, she actually wound up pregnant in real life the next season at the same time Sarah Jessica was pregnant as well, so a lot of Miranda's "post-baby weight" was actually Cynthia's "pregnancy weight". Seinfeld: Julia Louis-Dreyfus had two babies during the shows' run, one in 1992 (which explained why she was missing at the start of season 4, maternity leave) and again in the seventh or eighth season.

12-01-2007, 12:28 AM	#11
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,689	COURTNEY THORNE SMITH - ACCORDING TO JIM: ATJ will return in January 2008 with the lead actress, Courtney Thorne Smith pregnant on-screen as she is in real life. She is due to give birth in January.

12-01-2007, 12:44 AM	#12
Mikado Main st bridge Forum Superstar Join Date: Jul 06, 2005 Posts: 25,880	Sally Struthers was pregnant when she and Rob made their last guest appearance on AITF/ABP , but, since Mike had supposedly had a vasectomy, they said Gloria was just "getting fat" (The ep when The Bunkers learn their daughter had an affair)

12-01-2007, 12:51 AM	#13
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,689	WHITLEY GILBERT WAYNE - A DIFFERENT WORLD: The character Whitley found out during the series finale episodes (two-parter) she was pregnant. THELMA EVANS ANDERSON - GOOD TIMES: The character Thelma, discovered during the series finale episode that she is pregnant.

12-01-2007, 01:02 AM	#15
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,689	Is that from South Park?