Why do we keep forcing celebrities to respond to pregnancy speculation?
This week, Zendaya shut down rumours she was expecting her first child with boyfriend Tom Holland.
It came when ‘#ZendayaPregnant’ started trending on Twitter, after fans were fooled by a viral TikTok video which showed a fake ultrasound edited to look like it was posted by the actress.
The Euphoria star took to her Instagram Stories to address the rumours, writing: “See now, this is why I stay off Twitter. Just making stuff up for no reason…weekly.”
Zendaya is just the latest in a long line of female celebrities who have had to respond to baseless pregnancy rumours – but why she should she, or anyone, have to?
We live in a celebrity-obsessed culture. We want to know about their lives, their homes, their relationships and everything in between. It’s to be expected that we’re naturally curious about their pregnancies too.
And full disclosure, we’ve reported on things like this here in the past. But the endless gossiping and rumours about who is and who’s not expecting gets exhausting.
Why? Because, although we know people aren’t trying to be rude when they speculate, commenting about a potential pregnancy can hit really hit a nerve.
Maybe a ‘baby bump’ is some extra weight a person isn’t feeling all that confident about. Maybe someone is struggling with their fertility and constant speculation is just a reminder of that struggle. Maybe someone is pregnant and they don’t want everyone to know just yet.
Or maybe some women just do not want to have children and are sick of being asked.
Take Jennifer Anniston, for example, who has been subjected to endless pregnancy rumours and a constant barrage of questions about her fertility throughout her career.
“The objectification and scrutiny we put women through is absurd and disturbing,” the Friends actress stated in her famous ‘For The Record’ essay about this exact topic.
“Yes, I may become a mother someday, and since I’m laying it all out there, if I ever do, I will be the first to let you know.”
Hailey Bieber recently put it pretty perfectly when she was recently forced to respond to rumours she was expecting – all because she wore a flowing dress to The Grammy Awards.
On Instagram, she simply wrote: “I’m not pregnant, leave me alone.”
Leave them alone. If a female celebrity is pregnant, they’ll announce the news to the world when they want to. And that should be the end of it.
