As any person is Hollywood will attest, it is hard to keep things private. The paparazzi follow celebrities around like it is their bread and butter (because it is), and these stalker/photogs can literally get paid thousands of dollars for the right picture. But something like a pregnancy is a secret that people want to keep to protect themselves and their unborn baby; one never knows what hand they will be dealt, and it nice to insulate while growing a wee one. Many women find that they want privacy to bathe in their happiness with their closest friends and family—not millions of fans.

Unfortunately there are tell-tale signs that a woman is expecting and it can be really difficult to hide. There is only so far that a baggy shirt will get ya—eventually it becomes obvious to anyone who sees the burgeoning baby bump that there is more beneath that loose fitting dress than a weeks’ worth of Mexican food. And yet there have been many celebs that have been very successful at keeping their pregnancy under wraps. Who are they? What are their secrets? How did they manage to elude the public?

Let’s take a closer look…

12 Kim Kardashian

Kim Kardashian and her husband, Kanye West, live in the public eye. Cameras are always following the duo and Kims’ clothes are tight enough that news of a pregnancy would seemingly be obvious. The media grew complacent that they would be aware if the couple was pregnant with a third child…until the news broke that they had hired a surrogate. In June of 2017 TMZ reported that the couple that officially found a woman to carry their child.

All was quiet on the Kardashian front until January 16th, 2018 when Kim announced on her website that their third baby was born.

She said, “We are incredibly grateful to our surrogate who made our dreams come true with the greatest gift one could give and to our wonderful doctors and nurses for their special care."

11 Kerry Washington

Kerry Washington may have picked up a few things from her hit show, Scandal. She managed to hide her wedding to football player Nnamdi Asomugha whom she married in 2013. Kerry was pregnant for months before she was forced to break the news herself, when she appeared on an episode of Saturday Night Live.

The actress was already too pregnant at that point to hide it—her clothing just gave her way.

Kerry went on to hide her second pregnancy, as well. On the set of Good Morning America she said, “You could play a really fun game for the first five episodes of find the bump. We shot five episodes before I gave birth.”

Kerry now has two children with her husband: Isabelle Amarachi Asomugha (3) and Caleb Kelechi Asomugha (1).

10 Alexis Bledel

In what might be the best-kept pregnancy in all of Hollywood, Alexis Bledel and husband Vincent Kartheiser had a baby and no one knew she was pregnant, or had given birth, for months afterwards. The only reason that the public even found out about the baby was that Scott Patterson, who played the lovable Luke Danes on Gilmore Girls, let it slip during an interview.

We shouldn’t be that surprised—this couple is notorious for their secrecy. They were married in 2014 and no one had any idea of that, either.

We still don’t know the baby’s name—what if she paid tribute to Gilmore Girls and only the most devoted of fans would understand? What if she named him Jess? Or maybe a simple nod towards Edward Herrmann—maybe she named him Richard?

9 Mindy Kaling

Mindy Kaling has made a name for herself by making fun of her dating situation and all the trials and tribulations that come along with being a single lady.

And then all of a sudden news broke that the star of the Mindy Project was pregnant—from none other than Oprah Winfrey.

On an appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show, already well into her third trimester, Mindy talked baby. She said, “If anyone is going to announce big news about your private life, Oprah Winfrey is the person. You can’t complain that much about it. And you also can’t be like, ‘Hey, Oprah, zip it’ — because she’s almost like a religious figure. So if there’s one person I have to tell my daughter about that revealed her existence to the world, Oprah is pretty good.”

8 Kerri Russell

Actress Keri Russell and her beau Mathew Rhys met as co-stars on their show The Americans. Various cast members had accidentally mentioned in interviews that Keri was pregnant, but she still flew mostly under the radar.

Gossip magazines did not pick up on the fact that the couple had even had a baby until they were spotted walking around Brooklyn with it—surprise! (The baby was completely swaddled and hidden from view, which should have tipped us off that these parents were not going to be very forthcoming in photographs of their child.) Needless to say, someone put two and two together…and it became clear that Kerri had given birth to their son, Sam.

Fun fact: Kerri Russell already has two kids from a previous marriage; daughter Willa and son, River.

7 Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock was quite busy in early 2010—she had just split from her husband, Jessie James, and was in the midst of awards season where she was being hailed for her role in The Blind Side.

In her Oscar acceptance speech for best actress, Bullock said “I would like to thank what this movie was about for me, which are the moms that take care of the babies and the children no matter where they come from.”

No one picked up on the fact that she was referencing her own introduction to motherhood, by adopting a sweet baby boy named Louis. Though her split from her husband left her a single mother, Sandra never looked back. She even went on to adopt another child, Laila, in 2015 from the foster system.

6 Blake Lively

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are one of the hottest, hippest celebrity couples right now. And thus, they are constantly watched by the pararazzi. The couple managed to keep news of Blake’s first pregnancy under wraps until the actress herself left a small clue when posted a photo of herself, alongside many pregnant women. The caption read “Celebration of Family”. It was cryptic but simple.

Media outlets began reporting that Blake had given birth but no one could get any firm confirmation that it was indeed true. These two were so coy that no one figured out when his daughter, James, was actually until Reynolds finally divulged it to acknowledge her on her first birthday.

The couple has since had a second daughter, Ines, and has gotten a little more lax on sharing information.

5 Isla Fisher

Isla Fisher and husband Sacha Baron Cohen are known throughout Hollywood for being very private. They have three children together—something that most of us probably were not aware of…until now. They have two daughters: Olive Baron Coehn, and Elula Lottie Miriam Cohen, and one son named Montgomery Moses Brian Baron Cohen.

Isla managed to hide all three of her pregnancies until the last minute, an impressive feat!

Her co-star on the film Burke and Hare, Simon Burk, had no idea she was pregnant at the time of filming. Isla quipped, "[He] has no observational skills at all because I had the worst morning sickness. I was totally ill and I think he just thought I was some bulimic actress from Hollywood and he just ignored it. He never asked!"

4 Megan Fox

Megan Fox is legitimately one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood today. She had already had two children with her estranged husband, actor Brian Austin Green, when news broke that Megan was well along with her third pregnancy. Not only had she managed to hide the fact that she was with child, but she also kept it secret who the father was.

Rumors swirled and the media created a frenzy speculating on who had graced the sheets of Megan’s proverbial bed. Names were thrown out in quick succession—some possible but most them just fantasies that people had created. Finally Megan stepped in to quell the speculation and said that it was actually her on-again-off-again husband, Green.

It was a little bit of a let-down for the overexcited fans and reporters.

3 Leighton Meester

Television lovers became obsessed with the celebrity pairing of Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl) and Adam Brody (The O.C.). Both actors hailed from dramatic shows and their union created quite a buzz in the media. The couple kept their marriage on the down low, so it should come as no surprise that they did the same thing with Leighton’s pregnancy.

No one had any idea Leighton was pregnant until she had a very pronounced baby bump. Even when it was obvious that there was a baby tucked beneath her plaid shirts, the couple kept silent on their newest addition.

A birth certificate shows that the couple did indeed have a baby—named Arlo Day. But besides that, there is very little evidence of this baby, which is pretty impressive in this day and age.

2 Eva Mendes

Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling have probably produced two of the most beautiful children that ever graced this big ol’ world of ours. But has anyone seen them? No.

These two are so good at keeping secrets that no one even knew Eva was pregnant with their first child, Esmeralda, until after she was born!

This celeb couple is notorious shies away from interviews but when talking to People magazine about her latest clothing line, we got a little intel from Eva about her household.

She said with regards to teaching her kids about their Cuban ancestry, “Esmeralda mostly speaks Spanglish right now. It’s really cute. She’s definitely bilingual, and it’s really important for us to make sure that she’s not only just familiar with the language, but also with the culture.”

1 Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey and then-husband Nick Cannon had been married for a while, so the media was circling the couple looking for a pregnancy bump. But unfortunately the couple hit some road bumps on their way to expanding their family. Mariah was one month along when she suffered a miscarriage.

Knowing the harsh realities of pregnancies, especially in the public eye, when the couple again became pregnant they kept the news under wraps for as long as possible.

On the Today Show, Mariah confirmed the rumors. But in typical form, she gave very few details. "It's still early," she said. "We're expecting in the spring, let's say that. I don't want to give too much specific outlines."

Mariah told the hosts that were trying to retain as much privacy as possible.

References: People, Vanity Fair, Romper, US Magazine, EOnline