Justine Lupe. Eric Charbonneau/Netflix via Getty Images
Justine Lupe is clearing up her previous statements about who on the Nobody Wants This set was aware of her pregnancy while filming.
In a September 26 Instagram post, Lupe, 35, wrote that the show’s cast and crew “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.” In another upload shared on Sunday, October 13, the actress clarified that her colleagues “did know I was pregnant as soon as it was safe to share.”
She explained: “As women who have carried a baby know, there is a higher risk of miscarriage in the first few months of pregnancy so it’s emotionally risky to share too early. I only care to make this clear because EVERY single person on this set made sure I was cozy and taken care of.
Lupe went on to gush about her coworkers, including her onscreen sister, Kristen Bell. “[Kristen] ran around her living room in a sheet mask screaming in celebration when she found out and vowed to make this experience as cushiony and sweet and soft as possible,” she recalled.
Netflix’s Nobody Wants This draws curious parallels to show creator Erin Foster’s real life. The 10-episode romantic comedy follows the love story of agnostic, outspoken sex podcaster Joanne (Kristen Bell) and unconventional rabbi Noah (Adam Brody), who is canonically nicknamed “Hot Rabbi.” Despite the duo’s immediate chemistry and attraction, all of their family members and […]
Nobody Wants This creator Erin Foster, who was also pregnant during the show’s production, gave Lupe “a huge hug” when she learned the news. “[She] eased any worry I may have had about working around it,” Lupe added. (Foster, 42, and her husband, Simon Tikhman, welcomed their first child, daughter Noa, on May 17.)
The Succession alum also thanked the series’ costume team and cinematographers for helping to handle her pregnancy on the show. “Every single @netflix exec on set came up and congratulated me,” she noted. “We had a set with FOUR pregnant women!”
Lupe went on to state that she’s sharing her story because “there is a narrative that it’s a death sentence of sorts to become a mother in this industry. That your career will be over. That there isn’t room for us when we transition into this AWESOME new chapter of our lives. This new version of ourselves.”
She continued: “The narrative isn’t based on nothing, there is a long history of this being the case, but I do think that things are changing! I’ve been lucky enough to see some of my best friends do some bonkers incredible work pregnant or as new moms and it’s been hugely expansive. … This set made me feel so safe creatively and interpersonally and I think it’s important for women to hear THIS narrative.”
Lupe has since given birth to her baby but has kept details about her child under wraps. “2 months of being acquainted with the windi pipe 💃,” she jokingly captioned a pic of herself and her baby in a stroller via Instagram on Thursday, October 10, referring to a device to help alleviate gas in infants.
Lupe plays Morgan, the sister of Bell’s Joanne, on Nobody Wants This. The series, which premiered on Netflix last month, follows the unconventional romance between Joanne, a sex podcaster, and Adam Brody’s Noah, a newly single rabbi. The show also stars Timothy Simons, Jackie Tohn, Sherry Cola, Tovah Feldshuh, Paul Ben-Victor, Stephanie Faracy and Emily Arlook.
The show was renewed for a second season just two weeks after its release. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Monday, October 14, Foster revealed that she and the show’s crew have “been in the writers room for about three weeks now.”
She also noted that Bell, 44, and Lupe visited the writers “to hear some storylines that we were working on,” adding, “And she says she hasn’t gotten a reaction to anything like this, literally, since Frozen.”
