Hallmark star Jen Lilley loves talking about motherhood. Whether documenting her experiences caring for and adopting her two eldest boys, or sharing the experiences pregnancy announcements of her two youngest daughters, the mother of four has always been candid about how she juggles parenthood with her in-demand career, which spans the big and small screens. Unsurprisingly, it hasn’t always been easy, as was the case when she filmed Hallmark’s “Paris, Wine, and Romance” on location in Europe while pregnant with her eldest daughter.
The first problem Lilley encountered was creating a diet that worked for her. “It was difficult because we shot the film in Bulgaria, so it was a bit difficult to find things to eat in Bulgaria…” she said IBT about the 2019 filming. “They have all these wonderful cheeses and all these things that you just can’t (have) because you don’t know if they’re pasteurized or not. So that was tricky.” However, hiding her baby bump while filming was also an obstacle. “Two weeks of popping in my stomach,” she continued, adding, “So when I walk up to the camera… if I was from the side you’d be like, ‘Did she eat too much pasta last night or is she pregnant?’ So they adjusted the recordings accordingly.” Despite the unexpected challenges, “Paris, Wine, and Romance” wasn’t the only Hallmark movie Lilley made while she was pregnant.
Jen Lilley filmed three Hallmark movies while pregnant
Jen Lilley is one of the celebrities you didn’t know, filmed during pregnancy during the production of “Paris, Wine, and Romance,” and that’s probably because it wasn’t her first rodeo. Lilley filmed three Hallmark movies during her first pregnancy, with the first being 2019’s “Love Unleashed.” Luckily, Lilley was much earlier in her journey, which made shooting a breeze, except for one little thing. “That one was only a challenge because it was cold, but that was the easiest one, I think, as far as being pregnant,” she said IBT in July 2019.
Her director, Christie Will Wolf, also made the shoot exceptionally easy. “She’s amazing. We’ve worked together a lot. So that was great because I’ve worked with that crew and Christie on five different films,” she continued, adding, “So it was like being with family, and they all knew I was pregnant and they were all excited.”
Of course, Lilley has not only proven that she’s not the type to let pregnancy slow her down. She also went back to work almost immediately. In December 2019, while promoting her Christmas movie ‘Angel Falls: A Novel Holiday’, she revealed that she had taken just eight weeks of maternity leave after giving birth. And she had her sons to thank for that! “I don’t know if I could have done it if Julie, our daughter, had been my first baby,” she said AND. “She is my first biological child, but having had two babies before her (one through adoption and the other currently in foster care), I was used to having a child turn your life upside down and adapt.” She continued, “So I don’t know if I could have done it.”
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