Rihanna’s Met Gala Pregnancy Announcement Made Us Revisit the 5 Most Iconic Celebrity Baby Bump Reveals of All Time

Rihanna just wowed us with another fabulously public pregnancy reveal at the Met Gala (remember her Super Bowl halftime performance that made us forget about the actual game?) Her red carpet appearance got us thinking about how weird it must be to unveil your baby bump when you’re in the public eye. Do you just kind of let it happen? Or do you make a statement?

Some stars have turned their baby bumps into performance art—here are the most iconic moments that redefined celebrity pregnancy reveals forever.

Katy Perry’s music video reveal

Before she decided to, controversially, go to space for some reason, Katy Perry was focused on normal pop star things, like making music videos. And on March 4, 2020, she used her art to reveal her pregnancy! At the end of the video for “Never Worn White,” she revealed a stunning baby bump while standing ethereal and goddess-like in flowing fabric, undoubtedly launching a thousand maternity photo shoot Pinterest boards. She gave birth to daughter Daisy Dove Bloom, who she shares with husband Orlando Bloom, on August 26, 2020.

Keke Palmer was “Live From New York”

One of Them Days star Keke Palmer put speculation that she might be pregnant to rest when she appeared on Saturday Night Live. She delivered her whole opening monologue in a stylish trench coat, before saying, “’There’s some rumours going around. People have been in my comments saying ‘Keke’s having a baby,’ ‘Keke’s pregnant,’ and I want to set the record straight.” Then she opened up the trench and revealed her bump, saying “I am!”

Keke’s comedic timing never misses. 

Kourtney Kardashian—Travis’ #1 fan

Kourtney Kardashian pulled off an amazing surprise at her husband Travis Barker’s Blink-182 concert in 2023, holding up a sign in the audience that read “TRAVIS I’M PREGNANT” for all to see. A visibly moved Barker ran offstage to give his wife a huge hug and kiss. There’s nothing like seeing a surprised dad get all teary. Nice job, Kourtney.

Beyoncé at the VMAs

As everyone who’s seen the Cowboy Carter tour footage knows, Beyoncé is now a proud mom to 3 kids—Blue Ivy, 13, and twins Sir and Rumi, 7. But Queen Bey wowed the world during the 2011 VMAs when, after blowing the roof off the joint with “Love On Top,” she unbuttoned her tuxedo jacket and cradled her new baby bump with a smile that said everything. Apparently that moment broke the then-Twitter record by generating 8,868 tweets per second.

Blue, the icon that you are—that girl has been onstage and smashing records since before she was born!

Lucille Ball made TV history

This one’s a deep cut, but it’s one of the most iconic pregnancy reveals of all time. Did you know that before Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz insisted that Lucy’s pregnancy be written into I Love Lucy, the Code of Television Practices forbade discussion of anything remotely sexual—even pregnancy between a married couple—on air? (Yes, pregnancy was sexual, because it implied that the married couple had, y’know, had sex.) 

Arnaz and Ball fought for the storyline, ultimately changing the landscape of TV forever and giving us one of the sweetest, most genuine moments in all of sitcom history. They still weren’t allowed to say “pregnant” on screen, but it was a step in the right direction.

Without this moment, would we still be using “expecting” as a euphemism? Pretending babies arrive via stork? (In these times, who knows, maybe we’re already headed back there!)

So in their own unique ways, each of these women turned a private milestone into a cultural touchstone, showing that pregnancy announcements don’t have to be PR statements. They can be art, comedy, surprise, even revolution. Somewhere a publicist is already plotting the next viral baby bump moment.

For more celebrity gossip and hot takes, listen to Comments By Celebs, The Toast, and Not Skinny But Not Fat.