Pregnant Gina Rodriguez Recalls 'Creative' Ways Not Dead Yet Team Hid Her Baby Bump While Filming

Carita Rizzo
·2 min read
gina rodriguez
gina rodriguez

Tommaso Boddi/Getty

Gina Rodriguez didn't expect to be starting her family and a new show at the same time.

Though that's what the actress faced while filming her new series, Not Dead Yet, she was met with nothing but support by the cast and crew, she revealed during a panel at the Television Critics Association Press Tour on Wednesday.

"It's my first time experiencing this, and they've been so loving and supportive of me, you know, accidentally getting pregnant right before the show started," she said. "Me and my husband are obviously very excited about it, but it definitely wasn't planned."

Rodriguez, 38, said that executive producer Dean Holland was a big help during production and was "always there to make me feel very comfortable about the experience because it was very new."

"So he helped all the directors come up with very creative ways to either cover the belly, whether it was costumes or my cubicle, or a plant or refrigerator," she explained.

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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 08: Gina Rodriguez attends the Los Angeles premiere of Amazon Prime's "I Want You Back" at ROW DTLA on February 08, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 08: Gina Rodriguez attends the Los Angeles premiere of Amazon Prime's "I Want You Back" at ROW DTLA on February 08, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

Amy Sussman/Getty

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The mom-to-be admitted that it felt tougher and tougher as filming and her pregnancy progressed.

"I'll never forget, because each day I felt like, 'I'm so big, I can't imagine hiding [this]' and now I look back and I'm like, 'That was nothing,' " she said. "I was so afraid."

Rodriguez recalled telling the showrunner that she's "not getting smaller," to which he assured her, "You're pregnant, you're a miracle. Just live in it and we'll figure it out."

"And they did," Rodriguez said, giving all credit to the team. "They figured it out and my costars helped figure it out and the crew, so it was a very loving, protective set, that would be like, 'This is one of your shots.'"

gina-rodriguez
gina-rodriguez

Source: Joe Locicero/Instagram

Speaking to PEOPLE last month, Rodriguez opened up about being in the home stretch of her pregnancy.

"I feel like I'm taking 72 different classes from conscious parenting to hypnobirthing to doula classes to prenatal yoga to figuring out how best I can prepare to be ready for birth," the pregnant actress shared, "because that just feels like climbing Mount Kilimanjaro."

Rodriguez also said she's "really leaning on all the mothers around" her.

"All the people that have done it before me, hoping they'll teach me and help me when I fall," she continued. "I just got to get through the birth part. Once I get there, then I think I can see further."