Sumith Prasad
In Judd Apatow’s romantic comedy film ‘Knocked Up,’ Katherine Heigl plays Alison Scott, who gets unintentionally pregnant by Ben Stone following a misunderstanding. As an entertainment journalist, Alison hides her pregnancy at her workplace while trying to form a bond with Ben, who decides to remain beside his one-night-stand partner throughout her journey with their unborn baby. By the movie’s end, her baby bump becomes large enough to be evident in front of her superiors. Heigl’s pregnancy bump in the rom-com is fake. The actress was not pregnant while filming the movie or anytime near the production period!
Katherine Heigl’s Reel and Real Pregnancies
Katherine Heigl seemingly wore a fake baby bump while shooting ‘Knocked Up.’ The actress became pregnant for the first time in 2016, nine years after the romantic comedy was released. She announced the pregnancy with her husband and singer-songwriter Josh Kelley in June 2016. By then, the couple had already adopted two children: Naleigh Mi-Eun and Adalaide Marie Hop. The actress delivered her first biological baby, a boy named Joshua Bishop, in December 2016. “This is an incredibly exciting time for us filled with hope, anticipation, and hormones. Well, only I’m filled with hormones, but everyone in the family gets to enjoy them,” Heigl shared at the time.
Heigl was open about her first pregnancy, sharing her experiences through her blog. Like her ‘Knocked Up’ character Alison, the actress also became pregnant unexpectedly. “It was totally unexpected but thrilling nonetheless. […] The whole pregnancy thing is new to me but the thrill of having a baby is not. […] Seeing as I have never been pregnant and as my OB/GYN reminded me last year, I’m of advanced maternal age, I wasn’t sure pregnancy was even in the cards for us. Turns out it was very much in the cards!” Heigl shared back in 2016.
After wearing a fake baby bump to shoot ‘Knocked Up,’ Heigl had to hide her real pregnancy during the production of ‘Doubt,’ her 2017 CBS drama series. “We’re working really hard to try to hide it, and it’s a challenge, because every day my body changes a little bit more,” the actress told People. “We started out with really high hopes of, like, fitted, pencil skirts, and those really great Victoria Beckham dresses, and that became impossible pretty quickly. So now it’s a lot of big coats. It’s either a purse, a jacket [to cover the baby bump]. I think I should start carrying a big plant around, honestly — just to shake things up,” she added.
Heigl celebrated Joshua’s 7th birthday in December last year with a heartfelt note that reminds us of Alison’s warmth. “This child is an absolute light in my life! […] Joshua Junior reminds us every day, never to take the magic and the wonder and the exploration of this human experience for granted. To savor every moment and every opportunity to grow and learn and discover,” the actress shared on Instagram. While Alison chooses to nurture her daughter in Los Angeles, Heigl raises her children in Utah, where her family settled after she moved from LA.
Read More: Is Knocked Up a True Story? Are Ben and Alison Inspired by Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann?
