She might have played the all-drinking, all-swearing podcast host and 'loser sister' in Netflix's hit new romcom, Nobody Wants This, but Justine Lupewas actually five months pregnant during filming.
The actress, best known for her role as Willa Ferreyra in Succession, stars as Morgan in the new series alongside Kristen Bell, Adam Brody and Timothy Simons. Sharing the news that she was secretly (or not so secretly) pregnant during filming on Instagram, Justine revealed that she even tried to hide the news from the cast and crew.
She posted a photo of her growing bump with the caption, 'Nobody Wants This is out on @netflix today! This show carried me through my first 5+ months of pregnancy with so much warmth.'
Justine first revealed her pregnancy at the SAG Awards in LA in February where she posed for photos holding her bump in a red dress on the red carpet. As for who Justine's baby daddy is, she is expecting her first child with her fiancé Tyson Manson.
The couple keep most details about their relationship private, but by the look of her Instagram page, their baby is due to arrive very soon. At the end of July, she posted a series of pregnancy portraits with the caption 'nearly earth side'.
In her post about the show, the actress added, 'Having a fully pregnant showrunner in @erinfoster, a relentless champion for motherhood in @kristenanniebell , a DP in @adrianpengcorreia who knows how to work the shit out of camera to make me look, well, not pregnant, and a cast and crew who supported me from the moment my Gucci skirt ripped open in both the front and backsides on set at 2am when they had no idea I was pregnant and thought I was just rapidly falling apart… I had so much fun with this show and with Morgan in particular. I hope you have fun with it too!'
Nobody Wants This is a ten-part romcom about an agnostic podcast host Joanne (played perfectly by Kristen Bell) who falls in love with a Rabbi called Noah (played handsomely by Adam Brody). It's won praise for championing a love story played by two people in their 40s, and for being genuinely funny. But it's also the shows 'sidekicks', aka Justine who plays Joanne's sister Morgan and Timothy who plays Noah's brother Sasha, who have stolen audience's hearts and were even described as 'elite level' by Men's Health journalist, Evan Romano.
Upon reflection, Morgan was often sitting down, standing behind something or wearing loose clothing in a lot of scenes in the show. So there was certainly some crafty camera work going on...
As she mentioned in her caption, Justine wasn't the only pregnant person on set. Erin Foster, who wrote and produced the series which is loosely based on her own life, was heavily pregnant during filming too. She welcomed her daughter Noa with her husband Simon Tikhman in May.
Nikki Peach is news and entertainment writer at Grazia UK, working across pop culture, TV and current affairs. She has also written for the i, i-D and the New Statesman Media Group and covers all things TV for Grazia (treating high and lowbrow shows with equal respect).