The X-Files. In the early months of Gillian Anderson’s pregnancy, the crew just tried to shoot her so her baby bump wouldn’t appear onscreen. But as she got closer and closer to her delivery date, that became impossible. In true X-Files fashion, writers just had Scully abducted by aliens for awhile.
How I Met Your Mother. Alyson Hannigan got pregnant during the fourth season of the show, which was not the right time for her character to get pregnant on the intricately-plotted series. Her belly was usually hidden, but when she was really far along, the show made a joke out of it. The plot of one episode, shows her winning a hot dog eating contest, and she proudly shows off her “extremely full” stomach.
Mad Men. When Mad Men started filming its fifth season, January Jones (Betty Draper) was eight months pregnant. Creator Matthew Weiner decided to just say Betty gained a lot of weight—which worked because the character was obsessive about her weight and body image. (She even went to get her prostate checked out.) After Jones gave birth, Betty lost the weight with Weight Watchers.
Frasier. Writers dealt with Jane Leeves’ pregnancy in a similar way: They had her get “fat,” overeating due to stress and anxiety. When it came time for Leeves to give birth and take some maternity leave, her character, Daphne, was sent to a health spa to slim down.
30 Rock. Sitcoms have historically just hid pregnant actresses obvious baby bump-obscurers, like dressing them in baggy clothes, or having carry laundry baskets around. 30 Rock made fun of that when Elizabeth Banks was pregnant in the show’s fifth season. She hides behind an increasingly absurd parade of objects, none funnier than when she holds in front of her body a ham wearing a large hat.
New Girl. From New Girl to no girl. Zooey Deschanel was with child in the show’s fifth season. Writers didn’t want her character, Jess, to have a baby, so they had her sequestered in a hotel for jury duty on a lengthy trial. Deschanel sat out half the season of New Girl, and a new girl played Megan Fox was brought in as a temporary replacement.
Grey’s Anatomy. Ellen Pompeo was pregnant. Easy fix: Her character, Meredith Grey, became bedridden, in need of a liver transplant.
Angel. Charisma Carpenter’s real-life pregnancy was written into the supernatural show. Sort of. Writers made her pregnant with an evil demon creature.
Wonder Woman. By the time Gal Gadot was scheduled to film reshoots on Wonder Woman, she was five months pregnant, and apparently showing. But this was a superhero movie, so plenty of technology was at the ready: Costumers wrapped her baby bump in green fabric that functioned as a miniature green-screen. Her belly was digitally slimmed down in postproduction.
Ocean’s Twelve. Julia Roberts’ pregnancy was hidden by going meta. Or really, it wasn’t hidden at all. In the heist comedy, Roberts plays a woman named Tess, but as part of the con she poses as famous actress “Julia Roberts”—who was pregnant at the time.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Melissa Fumero plays a cop on the show, and when her baby bump got big, she went undercover as a pregnant woman, and had to wear a “fake” baby belly.
