Top 20 Real Life Pregnancies That Were Written Into TV Shows

#20: Melissa Rauch

“The Big Bang Theory” (2007-19)

Not long after Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz gave birth to her and Howard’s daughter Halley on “TBBT”, the actress playing the character fell pregnant in real life. Melissa announced she was expecting a rainbow baby through a moving essay on Glamour.com in July 2017. Rather than hiding the bump, showrunner Steve Holland decided to incorporate her pregnancy into the storyline. He figured that a surprise second pregnancy would be an interesting plot development. To ensure Rauch’s pregnancy went smoothly, her character was even put on bed rest. Melissa safely welcomed her first child, daughter Sadie, into the world in December 2017, and Bernadette gave birth to her second on the sixteenth episode of season eleven.

#19: Holly Marie Combs

“Charmed” (1998-2006)

This actress stole countless hearts as Piper Halliwell. According to reports, when she got pregnant with her first child, Finley, in 2004, producers initially hoped to keep the pregnancy hidden. In the “Charmed” universe, Piper was already a mother of one at the time. However, when the opportunity to introduce a new key character into the plot presented itself, they decided to give Piper another son, Chris. As the story progresses, Chris travels back in time to protect the Charmed Ones. Piper’s second pregnancy lined up with Holly’s first and gave the show one of its coolest characters.

#18: Ivana Miličević

“The 100” (2014-20)

The iconic sci-fi series originally intended Charmaine Diyoza to be a short-lived villainess. Actress Ivana Miličević joined the show for its fifth season, and later told TVLine that her character was supposed to be offed by the end of the season. However, when Ivana got pregnant right before the cameras started rolling, showrunner Jason Rothenberg decided to give Charmaine a more meaningful arc and created the character of her daughter, Hope. Charmaine’s story continued until the final season, much to the joy of fans. Miličević credits her real-life son, Phoenix’s birth, for the incredible work she got to do on “The 100” for three years.

#17: Janet Hubert

“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” (1990-96)

This beloved actress originated the character of Aunt Viv. She was expecting a baby when “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” was on its third season. To accommodate her, the show made Aunt Viv pregnant with her youngest child, Nicky. Unfortunately, Hubert’s marriage to James Whitten at the time was allegedly abusive, and she wasn’t having the best time on set either. Things came to a head when the show reportedly offered her a poor deal, and the actress decided to quit. However, people thought Janet was fired and that she was feuding with Will Smith. The actress later revealed that she exited the show on her own terms and reconciled with the “Bad Boys” star.

#16: Kaley Cuoco

“Based on a True Story” (2023-24)

“The Big Bang Theory” actress got pregnant with her daughter, Matilda, whom she shares with actor Tom Pelphrey, in 2022. “Based on a True Story” hadn’t started filming at the time. As one of the executive producers of the show, Kaley decided to propose the idea of her character, Ava Bartlett, being a pregnant woman as a way of revealing her own pregnancy to the producers. After some contemplation, showrunner Craig Rosenberg was on board, excited at the prospect of seeing a different kind of performance from Cuoco. Little Matilda was born a few months before the show premiered.

#15: Sarah Drew

“Grey's Anatomy” (2005-)

The ABC medical drama is no stranger to incorporating its actresses’ pregnancies into the show. However, in the case of Sarah Drew, her character, Dr. April Kepner, was written to be pregnant before the actress was even expecting. “Shonda knows everything,” Drew mused in an interview with Fit Pregnancy. Her character became a first-time mom in season eleven, while Drew and her husband, Peter Lanfer, were expecting their second child. Kepner’s baby does not survive, but thankfully, Sarah gave birth to a healthy girl, named Hannah, in December 2020. Similarly, Caterina Scorsone’s third pregnancy was written into her character Dr. Amelia Shepherd’s arc in season sixteen.

#14: A. J. Cook

“Criminal Minds” (2005-20; 2022-)

The actress is a mother of two sons, Mekhai Allan and Phoenix Sky, and her pregnancy with both her boys was written into the show. They even appear on “Criminal Minds” as her on-screen sons, Henry and Michael, in the show’s fourth and eleventh seasons, respectively! Josh Stewart once claimed that his character, William LaMontagne, Jr., became JJ’s serious love interest only because the writers didn’t want to conceal Cook’s first pregnancy. During her second pregnancy, her character was briefly written out so the actress could enjoy her maternity leave. Mekhai and Phoenix also make appearances on “Criminal Minds: Evolution”, notably in an episode directed by their mum.

#13: Molly Ringwald

“The Secret Life of the American Teenager” (2008-13)

The Golden Globe-nominated actress gave birth to twins, Adele and Roman, in 2009. It was her second pregnancy with husband Panio Gianopoulos, who fathered her first child, Mathilda. Shailene Woodley, who played Molly’s on-screen teen daughter, Amy, in “The Secret Life of the American Teenager”, said the team was excited to hear about her pregnancy. The way it was integrated into season two was also seamless. Not long after Amy gives birth to her son, John, Ringwald’s character, Anne, falls pregnant. This aligned perfectly with the show’s theme of dealing with unplanned pregnancies, while also dialing up the drama to eleven as Anne tried to figure out whose baby she was expecting. Needless to say, it made for some good TV.

#12: America Ferrera

“Superstore” (2015-21)

The “Barbie” actress was blessed with her first pregnancy with husband Ryan Piers Williams in 2017. She did not reveal the news to the world until 2018. However, her “Superstore” co-stars caught on before that just because she was craving pancakes on set one day. On the show, writers made America’s character, Amy Sosa, pregnant with her ex-husband Adam’s child. This was an interesting choice and made viewers’ jaws drop because everyone was rooting for Amy to end up with Ben Feldman’s Jonah at the time. In 2019, when Ferrera got pregnant again, she decided to exit the show after season five to focus on her growing family and explore other projects. However, she does appear on several episodes of the sixth and final season.

#11: Melanie Scrofano

“Wynonna Earp” (2016-21)

The Canadian actress found out she was pregnant with her second son, Teddy, in 2016. She shared the exciting news with “Wynonna Earp” creator Emily Andras, and she was more than happy to incorporate the pregnancy into the show’s storyline. According to Variety, she did have to go back and change some of the writing for season two. However, Andras was determined to honor the feminist spirit of the show and fight for her heroine. Scrofano did the entire season while pregnant and gave birth only after she finished filming. When viewers found out Wynonna was pregnant in season two, episode five, it was a twist no one saw coming.

#10: Emily Deschanel

“Bones” (2005-17)

One of the main draws of “Bones” was the undeniable chemistry between Emily Dechanel’s Dr. Temperance Brennan and David Boreanaz’s FBI agent Seeley Booth. We always knew where their will-they-won’t-they dance was inevitably leading, but fate stepped in a little earlier than the writers may have intended. Rather than try to work around Deschanel’s real life pregnancy, the show incorporated it into the plot and used it as the impetus to finally make things official between Bones and Booth. In the seventh season, the characters would work to adapt to couple life and parenting. Emily Deschanel said it was a pretty accurate reflection of her own adjustment to motherhood. The dynamic worked so well that her second pregnancy was written into the show as well.

#9: Gillian Anderson

“The X-Files” (1993-2002; 2016-18)

Hollywood has not always been a friendly place for expectant mothers. When Gillian Anderson became pregnant at the end of The X-Files’ first season, studio executives pressured showrunner Chris Carter to recast her role. To his credit, Carter supported Anderson. Instead, the show adopted a hybrid strategy for working with her condition. In the first half of the second season the classic costuming and camera tricks were used to hide Anderson’s pregnancy. In the course of all this, Scully, working separately from Mulder, becomes the victim of an abduction and experimentation. This bombshell reveal would both use and explain Anderson’s pregnancy in-universe. We have to love this creative, mythology building solution to the challenge.

#8: Alyson Hannigan

“How I Met Your Mother” (2005-14)

When Hannigan’s first pregnancy wasn’t a natural fit for her character, the show addressed the matter with the humor you might expect. Her second baby came around at the perfect time though. With Marshall and Lily also poised to start a family, it was a no-brainer to write Hannigan’s real pregnancy into the series. Watching Lily and Marshall move, and move again, prepare for parenthood, and eventually welcome their son felt like the most organic progression in the world for the long-time couple. Of course, the show had no trouble bringing all kinds of goofy fun to these situations as well. It’s so nice when your personal and professional life can line up this neatly.

#7: Ginnifer Goodwin

“Once Upon a Time” (2011-18)

Talk about life imitating art! Stars Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas met when they were cast opposite each other as Once Upon a Time’s paragons of true love, Snow White and Prince Charming. It wasn’t long before the actors had fallen for one another in real life. They became engaged in 2013 and the 2014 birth of their first child was written into the show as well. With Snow and Charming recently reunited after decades under an evil curse, Goodwin and Dallas’ real life start to their family was a natural fit for their onscreen characters. Luckily, the parallels did have a few limits. They avoided the part about having to put their firstborn into a magical wardrobe and send them to a different dimension.

#6: Cynthia Nixon

“Sex and the City” (1998-2004)

When Sarah Jessica Parker became pregnant, the show fell back on old standbys to hide that fact. However, when it came to actress Cynthia Nixon, her pregnancy was incorporated into her character Miranda’s storyline. Not exactly the maternal type, Miranda hadn’t been too deeply shaken by the news of her lazy ovary in Season 2. It was a big shock when she found herself pregnant several seasons later after having unprotected sex with Steve. The pregnancy and subsequent birth of her son Brady proved to be a huge character growth event for Miranda. As she adapted to the changes in her life, viewers got to enjoy the process of seeing Miranda discover new sides to the identity we already loved.

#5: Jennifer Garner

“Alias” (2001-06)

To be honest, the life of super spy Sydney Bristow already sounds plenty challenging. However, when actress Jennifer Garner discovered she was expecting her first child in 2005, the series writers made the choice to throw the expectant mom curveball at her onscreen counterpart as well. For Sydney, this meant taking a step back from the action to train newbie Rachel Gibson. Not that her life got any less dramatic, of course. There was still plenty to keep her on her toes with the death and later resurrection of her lover, Michael Vaughn. The final season included the birth of their daughter. Though we never got to see Sydney juggle domesticity with the spy life, these two parents seem like they could handle just about anything.

#4: Chelsea Peretti

“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (2013-21)

After deciding to hide star Melissa Fumero’s pregnancy, the cop comedy went a different route after Peretti announced her own expectant status following season three. Gina Linetti isn’t exactly a character who seems like the most traditional maternal figure. That’s where the fun comes in, naturally. In one of the most inspired choices of the plot line, the show initially left the identity of Gina’s baby daddy undisclosed. At the end of Season Four, it was revealed to be one of Boyle’s cousins. Inspired though that choice was, it was nothing compared to the revelation of Ryan Phillippe in the role of Milton Boyle.

#3: Kaitlin Olson

“It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia” (2005-)

Though being an expectant mother temporarily prohibited Olson from performing some of her more extreme physical comedy stunts, her real-life pregnancy led to some hilarious plotlines. With a visible baby bump in season six, the episode “Who Got Dee Pregnant?” follows the rest of the gang as they attempt to figure out which one of them is the father, as Dee claims. In reality, it’s Rob Mac– Kaitlin Olson’s offscreen husband. But in the “Always Sunny” universe, Dee is acting as a surrogate for Carmen, Mac’s ex-girlfriend– though she withholds this information from the others throughout her pregnancy. In the following season, Dee attempts to claim the baby as a dependent, which goes horribly, horribly wrong.

#2: Lisa Kudrow

“Friends” (1994-2004)

There are certainly benefits to playing quirky characters. Namely the amount of latitude they give writers when it comes to coming up with creative solutions. When Lisa Kudrow was pregnant, Friends brought in Phoebe’s brother Frank with an unusual request. Most people wouldn’t be up for the demands of surrogacy, but Phoebe is definitely not most people. She embraces the challenge and eventually learns that she is expecting triplets. Ironically, this forced the show to pad out Kudrow’s costumes to make it look like she was carrying more than one baby. Not only did the writers work smoothly around her off-screen life, but they also used the opportunity to give Kudrow one of her best scenes ever.

#1: Lucille Ball

“I Love Lucy” (1951-57)

The birth of a child is a milestone for any couple, but in this case it was an event of actual historical significance. As ridiculous as it sounds, in the early days of television, network executives considered the idea of a pregnant woman on screen to be vulgar; even the word “pregnant” was deemed too scandalous. Nevertheless, when sitcom legend Lucille Ball was expecting her first child, the revolutionary decision was made to write it into the show. And the plot line was a huge hit. Viewers identified with Lucy’s journey to motherhood, on and off screen. It turns out the cultural ground was fertile for more realistic depictions of life, and Lucy was just the lady to break that barrier.

Did any of these storyline changes feel forced or out of place to you? Sound off in the comments!