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Claire Danes has recalled her emotional reaction to the news that she was pregnant with her third baby.
The Beast in Me actress, 46, appeared with comedian and podcast host Amy Poehler on the Tuesday, January 27 episode of Good Hang with Amy Poehler and spoke about the moment she found out she was pregnant at 44. When the Inside Head 2 actress, 54, asked if she had “tears” at the thought of having to become pregnant again, Dane quickly replied: “Absolutely.”
“I called my OB-GYN crying while convulsing. It was just like… a meltdown,” she shared, noting that her children are nearly five years apart from each other. “This was all unintentional. I didn’t know it was physically possible. I was 44 years old. And Rowan was actually a very hard-earned person. I had to go through IVF twice.”
The actress previously sat down with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett on the Smartless Podcast and opened up about the emotionally complex experience of becoming pregnant in her mid-40s. Danes has three children with husband Hugh Dancy: Cyrus, 12, Rowan, 7, and daughter Shay, 2.
“I was very old at the time, 44 years old,” Danes said, admitting that she “didn’t think it was possible” to get pregnant by that age.
Dane initially felt embarrassed when she found out she was pregnant. Part of the reason is age (and the stigma surrounding it), and part of it is that she and Dancy, 50, weren’t looking to have another child.
“I never expected this to happen and it was weird. I suddenly felt weirdly embarrassed,” she said. “I was naughty. I got caught fornicating beyond what I was meant to do. Well, it was weird. I felt like I had found an edge that I didn’t really realize I had. I was kind of out of line.”
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Danes and Dancy became parents when Cyrus was born in December 2012, followed by Rowan five years later and their daughter in July 2023.
“This is traveling, which means I have a teenager and a toddler at the same time,” Danes said.
Since she already had two boys, Danes expected another boy with her third pregnancy. She said learning that she was expecting a baby girl was a pleasant surprise for Dane.
Danes and Dancy met in 2006 when they played lovers on Evening. Danes told Marie Claire in 2017 that she and Dancy met in Rhode Island “at the boldest and most beautiful time of fall.” One particularly idyllic day while cycling with Dancy, she realized that she was “really just happy” with him. The couple married in 2009.
