Celia Keenan-Bolger on Naming Her Baby, Getting Outed on Instagram and Eating Like a 'Normal Person'
Celia Keenan-Bolger has a secret she can no longer hide: “I’m seven and a half months pregnant,” the Tony nominee told Broadway.com in a quickie phone chat. What?! Pregnant? How could she have kept this from us for so long? What will she name the little nipper? Is it a boy or a girl? Damn straight we have questions! No worries, Celia, her husband John Ellison Conlee and Broadway.com go waaaay back, so she gave us the straight dope. Here it is...
Thirty weeks. I’m due April 28—right around the corner!
Are you kidding me? How did you keep this a secret for so long?
I was doing [The Oldest Boy] at Lincoln Center for my whole first trimester. [My character] was enormously pregnant in the second act of that play, so it was easy to hide with the way I was costumed. The synchronicity of all of it was pretty amazing.
Why did you wait to make it public?
I had a miscarriage in April, so I was getting a tiny bit of anxiety just to be like, “It’s happening!” I felt the need to wait before I could sort of be out in the world.
You’re OK talking about the miscarriage?
I think that that’s a good thing to get out there. I’ve wanted [to be a mom] for my whole life, yet it was more difficult to make the decision to do it than I thought it would be. But as soon as I got pregnant, all of that anxiety and worry just didn’t occupy the same space in my brain.
You seem very happy.
I feel really, really happy about the decision. It’s easy to put yourself into one of two categories, which is I do want kids or I don’t want kids. But I think there is a lot of gray area in there for women in our profession because it does put a hold on what you can and can’t do. I am so much calmer now.
Did you plan to announce this on social media?
Jesse Tyler Ferguson outed me on Instagram. It was one of those things that [husband John Ellison Conlee] and I talked about: “Do we want to have a thing?” And we were both like, “You know, I think it will happen naturally.” We were going to the SAG Awards and knew we would be photographed. There was no hiding the fact that I’m cooking a baby. We were just like, "No matter how this comes out, it’s fine."
Do you know if you’re having a boy or a girl?
We’re not finding out. It’s going to be one or the other.
Is this child going to have the last name Keenan-Bolger-Ellison-Conlee?
I recently said to my Dad, “When you and Mom were naming your children with hyphenate names, what did you think we would do when we got married and had kids?” And he said, “I thought we would raise kids that were smart and strong enough to make their own decisions.” [Laughs.] We’re just going to give our child John’s last name.
So Baby Conlee?
That’s right. I think it’ll be easier that way
Are your siblings [Maggie and Andrew] psyched?
Oh my God! That part is going to be the greatest. My Mom was one of seven, so I grew up with my aunts and uncles. I was sort of obsessed with them, and I was like, “My kid is going to have the exact same experience because my brother and sister are amazing, and we all live in the same city!"
Are you having any cravings?
As an actor I feel like I watch what I eat so often, so now I think I‘m just eating the way I would if I were a normal person: lots of bread, lots of ice cream. I feel like pregnancy is a very nice time to just be like, “Let’s do this.”
Is it safe to assume you are cleaning out the office/exercise/music room you mentioned in your Broadway.com Award acceptance speech?
Oh my God, yes! Where is the exercise ball going to go? Where are the musical instruments going to go? That room! That room is going to be a nursery.
Do you feel any pressure to give the baby a name from musical theater or Shakespeare or something?
Nope. Nope. Nope.