How Kristen Bell Hid Her Pregnancy During a Sex Scene With Adam Brody: He Called It a ‘Threesome’

An actor’s pregnancy has the potential to wreak havoc during filming. Once the pregnancy has advanced far enough to be visible, it can be quite a conundrum to figure out how to explain the presence of an unexpected baby bump when the plot hasn’t made room for it.

Sometimes, the writers just decide to work in the real-life pregnancy by making the character pregnant as well. One of the earliest examples of this was in I Love Lucy when Lucille Ball’s real-life pregnancy coincided with her character’s — and it was almost deemed too scandalous for TV. 

Of course, the plot doesn’t always allow for a pregnancy, so sometimes the expecting actors simply have to hide their bellies and hope for the best. 

When Kristen Bell was pregnant while filming House of Lies, her condition became a little trickier to conceal — because she was filming a sex scene. 

Kristen Bell is married to Dax Shepard 

Kristen Bell has become well-known for her frank discussions of her personal life and the challenges and joys of being a wife and mother. Back in 2007, the cheery actor met Dax Shepard at a birthday party, and the decidedly more morose Shepard was put off by her sunny disposition. They met up again a few weeks later at a hockey game, and the sparks were flying strongly enough for him to ask her for a piece of gum — that was already in her mouth. 

Five years later, the pair tied the knot, and they’ve talked openly about their marriage ups and downs. Shepard has struggled with alcohol, drug, and anger issues, and the pair have been very frank about their reliance on marriage counseling and constant work through their issues to keep their marriage going strong.

Many find the honest discussion around the challenges of building a life together to be refreshing. 

Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard have two daughters

The openness they have about their marriage also extends to their honesty about parenting. While the pair try to keep their children’s individual privacy protected, they do offer frank glimpses into the challenges and joys of being parents.

Bell, in particular, has opened up about her struggles with not connecting with her children during pregnancy and often uses humor on social media to highlight some of the less-than-glamorous moments of motherhood. 

Shepard, who was reluctant to get married at first and didn’t see himself settling down into a traditional husband role, was delighted to become a father. He and close friend Edward Norton even ended up excitedly announcing their partners’ simultaneous pregnancies at the same time. Shepherd and Bell have two daughters together.

Their oldest, Lincoln, was born in 2013, and she was joined by little sister Delta in 2014. 

A sex scene challenges a pregnant Kristen Bell on set 

Plenty of actors have had to hide their pregnancies while filming on set. For New Girl, writers had actor Zooey Deschanel ride around in a scooter and conveniently get called up for jury duty in order to hide her real-life pregnancy. Phylicia Rashad hid her growing belly behind a mattress on the set of The Cosby Show. 

Kristen Bell joined this list of actors who had to be sneaky about a pregnancy for the sake of their shows when she was filming House of Lies. The usual tricks weren’t going to work for Bell’s situation, however.

There wasn’t much to hide behind because, as Zimbio reports, the actor had to get up close and personal with co-star Adam Brody for a sex scene! As Daily News reports, there was no hiding the situation from Brody. “Adam Brody affectionately refers to our sex scenes as threesomes because my belly was just on top of him,” Bell remembered about the filming. 

For fans watching along at home, though, nothing seemed amiss. Bell’s bulging belly had been edited out using CGI.