6 Creative Ways Producers Used to Hide a Star’s Pregnancy

What clothing, visual effect, or object would you use to hide a pregnant woman’s belly in a movie? It may seem strange, but it’s a serious matter for filmmakers when one of their leading stars becomes pregnant before or during filming. From using the classic trick of baggy clothes to changing the figure in the editing. Hollywood masterminds manage to make bellies disappear, just like David Copperfield would.

1. Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman

When producers decided to reshoot some scenes for the movie, Gal Gadot had a 5-month pregnant belly that would be impossible to hide in her skintight superheroine costume. So, the wardrobe department cut off the front of the costume to replace it with green fabric. This way, they could change the actress’ figure in the edit.

2. Julia Roberts in Ocean’s Twelve

What better way to hide a pregnancy than by making it look fake? Although in the first scenes of the film we see the actress up close and in baggy clothes, later on, we see how Tess, her character, pretends to be Julia Roberts pregnant to steal a Fabergé egg. This is because instead of trying to hide Julia’s pregnancy throughout the filming, they decided to incorporate it into the plot by making it look like a fake belly.

3. Marcia Cross in Desperate Housewives

Since the plot of the third season of the series was already well-defined, it was impossible to incorporate Marcia’s pregnancy. Therefore, they resorted to dressing her in large sweaters, filming from the chest up, and placing objects in front of her that strategically covered her belly, such as a gingerbread house.

Curiously, for the following season, after she had already given birth to her twins, she had to act with a fake belly for her character’s new plot.

4. Reese Witherspoon in Vanity Fair

For the film adaptation of William Makepeace’s novel, the director had to rely on bulky 19th-century costumes to hide Reese’s 5 months of pregnancy. In addition, they strategically arranged furniture in some scenes to keep the belly off-screen.

“We had a couple of scenes where my stomach was showing a little bit, but we found solutions,” the actress said.

5. Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City

While Carrie Bradshaw, Sarah’s character, was ready to party and be single, the actress was expecting the birth of her first child. Since being a mom didn’t fit her character, they decided to give her wardrobe a makeover. In previous seasons, Carrie wore tight dresses, but in the fifth season of Sex and the City, she made the most of loose-fitting clothes and big bags.

6. Helena Bonham Carter in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Working on Tim Burton’s well-remembered musical was quite challenging for the actress. As difficult dance scenes weren’t enough, Bonham’s partner, Johnny Depp, didn’t know how to waltz. So Helena had a bit of a hard time with this role: “I had morning sickness and dizziness because I was in my first trimester. It was hellish,” she added.

To hide her belly, Burton rushed the production and fit Helena’s scenes in right at the beginning of the filming schedule. They could efficiently hide the belly with the dark wardrobe and changing lighting. However, the actress claims that we can see her weight change from one scene to the next, as she was not pregnant at the beginning of filming, and the movie was not shot in chronological order.

What do you think it’s like to work during pregnancy? For fun, imagine you are having a baby and have to keep the secret until birth. What technique would you use to hide it?