Toni Topaz is Expecting, and Vanessa Morgan reveals Riverdale is writing her pregnancy into the show! Here are five other TV actresses that worked through their own pregnancies.
A bundle of joy is coming to the town of Riverdale! Vanessa Morgan recently took to Instagram to tell fans that her pregnancy and upcoming birth will be written into the new season of the show. As Toni Topaz, Morgan has been part of the show since its second season and became a regular for its third. Recently, Vanessa Morgan has been incredibly open about working not only while nine months pregnant but also during a pandemic. The cast and crew have been taking extra safety measures to make sure the shoot goes as planned, which includes staying in Vancouver for the foreseeable future.
As the birth of her first child fast approaches, Vanessa announced on Instagram that her pregnancy will carry over to the CW hit. Cradling her baby bump, she thanked showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and producers for creating the storyline. Considering that Toni Topaz is currently in a fan favorite relationship with Cheryl Blossom, fans are left to wonder how this pregnancy will come about. Remember, season five will contain a seven year time jump into the future, taking the characters far out of high school and into adulthood. Some have theorized that Toni could act as a surrogate for Kevin or that she and Cheryl have decided to start their own family.
In the spirit of celebrating Morgan’s (and Toni’s) pregnancy, here are five other actresses that incorporated their own pregnancies into their television shows.
Courteney Cox / Lisa Kudrow
Friends is one of the few shows on television that had to deal with not one but two pregnancies from its lead actresses. By the time of the show’s fourth season, Kudrow was pregnant with her son at the time, but the writers felt Phoebe wasn’t ready for children; therefore, they decided to come up with a truly unique storyline so Kudrow could remain on the show. Upon connecting with her long lost half-brother, he asks her to be a surrogate for him and his much older new wife. Keeping in the generous spirit of the character, Phoebe happily accepts and eventually delivers triplets for the couple.
However, the same couldn’t be done for Courtney Cox when Friends reached its final season. It had already been established that Cox’s character, Monica Geller, could not have children. A large factor in the season was Monica and Chandler attempting to find their own surrogate. In order to conceal her pregnancy, Cox hid her belly through a series of various clothing and set tricks.
Kerry Washington
Kerry Washington could definitely relate to Courtney Cox when it comes to using unique ways to keep her pregnancy under wraps. Living the fast paced life of Washington D.C. fixer Olivia Pope means no time for kids, so Washington’s multiple pregnancies were not written into the show. During the show’s third season, the episode order was cut from twenty two to eighteen. Fans of Scandal have noticed the many ways the show has worked to cover Kerry Washington’s baby bump.
“You could play a really fun game for the first … five episodes of ‘find the bump,’” Washington said to ABC News at the time. Everything from hiding behind designer bags, lamps, or even other characters was used by the crew.
Ellen Pompeo
Hiding a pregnancy on Grey’s Anatomy is easier than it seems. Loose scrubs and doctor’s coats usually get the job done for most cast members. However, when that isn’t enough, sometimes the writers have to take extra measures. When Jessica Capshaw, a.k.a Arizona Robbins, found herself pregnant, the writers conveniently sent her to a medical conference in Africa. Or when the show’s star Ellen Pompeo was expecting her first child, the writers spent the majority of the sixth season cleverly concealing her bump until Pompeo had to take the required maternity leave.
There is rarely an episode of Grey’s Anatomy that doesn’t include Meredith Grey, so the writers had to come up with a storyline to explain her absence. Enter Meredith’s estranged father, Thatcher, who is in need of a liver transplant. By donating her own liver to her father, Meredith spends the majority of the season in a hospital bed or taking some much needed time off with the support of her friends and new husband, Derek Shepard.
Lucille Ball
Finally, we can’t have a list of actresses who worked through their pregnancies without including the original trailblazer. Lucille Ball made history as the first actress to have her pregnancy shown on television. Of course, this occurred on her extremely popular sitcom I Love Lucy, where she starred alongside her real life husband, Desi Arnaz. The couple who slept in separate twin beds on the show was met with criticism from CBS executives who were worried about how controversial the moment would become. Lucy and Desi were convinced that they would have to leave I Love Lucy because showing a pregnant woman was deemed too racy. However, head writer Jess Oppenheimer insisted that he write Ball’s pregnancy into the show. There were many conditions to this, which included never saying the word ‘pregnant’ or implying relations between the married couple.
This risky move paid off big time for I Love Lucy. The night Lucille Ball gave birth to her son Desi Arnaz, Jr., her character on television was doing the same. A record-setting forty-four million people tuned in to the birth of Little Ricky, with a million delighted fans sending congratulatory notes and gifts. Lucille’s struggle to have her pregnancy represented on the screen shows just how far we’ve come in entertainment.
