ost first-time mothers are understandably
nervous about having a baby, but Jacqueline
MacInnes Wood had the unique opportunity
to learn about motherhood on the job — liter-
ally. In April 2018, Steffy gave birth to Kelly.
Nine months later, Steffy adopted Phoebe. Prior to that, “I
wasn’t really around babies, so I got to learn a lot through
them,” says Wood. “I realized they’re a lot more resilient
than I thought. Feeding babies and having to burp them,
holding them the right way, passing them to another person
while supporting [the] neck.... I learned all of that through
my show.”
That October, Wood had her own pregnancy news to share,
and decided to announce it in grand fashion, with a little help
from B&B Executive Producer/Head Writer Bradley Bell, who
had scripted a runway walk for Steffy as part of the storyline. “He
was ecstatic,” she reports of his response to the baby news. “He
was so happy for me. Brad was so supportive and said, ‘If you
don’t want to do the fashion show, that’s fine.’ I was still trying to
hide my pregnancy but I didn’t want to turn it down. I wanted to
announce it in my own way and my own time and once I heard
about that fashion show, I thought, ‘Okay, there’s no hiding it
now.’ I knew I was going to start popping so I was like, ‘Let’s
enjoy this. This is a moment I’ll never forget.’ There were rumors
and people wondering anyway, so I might as well announce it in
a wild way. I mean, that’s really not surprising for me. So, that’s
when I embraced it.”
Though Wood describes a “pretty easy pregnancy,” she
didn’t expect to be as front and center on camera post-
announcement. “Once I told them I was pregnant, I truly
thought, ‘Oh, this is going be a walk in the park now. I’m going
be sitting behind a desk for the next five months and it will be
easy,’ ” she muses. “Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong. I
remember one scene, I was probably eight months pregnant,
and I had these high heels on and had this monologue as I’m
walking into the room. I was holding design boards to hide
my stomach and we’d hear, ‘Cut. We saw your bump. Hold
on. Do it again.’ There were so many hands-on things I never
thought I would be doing. It was challenging because we shoot
so quickly, and we already have so much dialogue as it is. But,
they did a great job hiding it and I was impressed while I was
watching the show. They made it work.”
The baby’s delivery, however, was not quite as smooth.
“He came, like, three weeks late,” she states. “I was basically
10-and-a-half months pregnant. Good times. I didn’t want to be
induced because that’s more time at the hospital. So, I tried to
do everything possible to induce myself. I was dancing on the
rooftop of CBS. I had the salad that’s supposed to induce you. IBirthday: April 17
Hails From: Windsor,
Ontario, Canada
Spouse In The House:
Wood and Elan Ruspoli
eloped in July 2018.
And Baby Makes
Three: Son Rise Harlan
was born March 4,
2019.
In And Out: “I haven’t
brought [Rise] to the
[B&B] studio yet.
They’re all waiting. Brad
[Bell, executive pro-
ducer/head writer] has
been so wonderful. As
far as scheduling, they
put my scenes back-to-
back, so I dive into hair
and makeup, go and
film and I’m out. Once
my scenes and storyline
get spread out, then I’ll
bring him in.”
Activity Center: “I’m
hoping maybe someday
we’ll go to dance class
together. I might have
the kid that says, ‘No, I
don’t want to do that,’
but I do go to a lot of
hip-hop classes for all
ages. I could absolutely
bring him one day, if
he’s into it.”
Trophy Case:Wood
won her first Emmy in
May, for Outstanding
Lead Actress, and
keeps it on a shelf.
“Which will have to be
moved higher as [Rise]
GI gets older.”
LL
ES
TO
UC
AS
/CO
UR
TE
SY
O
F^ B
EL
L-P
HI
LL
IP
TE
LE
VIS
IO
N^
INC
.
Just The Facts
S
O
A
P
O
P
E
R
A
D
IG
E
S
T
41