When it comes to giving birth, it's best to expect the unexpected. As these celeb moms quickly found out, it doesn't matter how prepared you are — anything can happen when it's time for the baby to come.
From mothers who had to drive themselves to the hospital, to babies who were born in bathrooms, to a couple of women who gave "silent birth" in accordance with Scientology's beliefs, we've rounded up some of the wildest celebrity birth stories.
Hopefully, these tales of parking lot labors and headphones-as-umbilical-clamps make you feel better about any of your own labor trauma. It's really hard to have a baby, even when you're a famous person with a bunch of money. This list even includes a terrifying labor story for one of Queen Elizabeth's grandchildren. If a royal can't have the perfect labor, no one can.
Blake Lively
You never really know if Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are telling the truth with their stories, because they love to troll one another, but this sounds too totally "them" to be fake. When Ryan was trying to get Blake to tell him how her mystery movie ended, he revealed on Twitter that Blake was the take-charge one on delivery day. "You can tell me," he wrote. "We're married. You once drove me to the hospital when you were giving birth."
Katie Holmes
In accordance with Scientology, Katie Holmes had what's called a "silent birth" while married to Tom Cruise. There are a lot of rumors about what exactly that means (we're getting A Quiet Place vibes), but Tom tried to make it sound better in an interview with Diane Sawyer.
"It's basically just respecting the mother, you know, and helping to be quiet — not the mother. The mother makes as much noise … you know, she's going through it," he said. "But why have other people make noise? You want that area very calm and to make it very special."
Kelly Preston
The late Kelly Preston also had silent births when delivering her children with John Travolta because Scientology believes noise during birth can impact a child later on. "It's just no words as much as possible. If you need to moan, if you cry out — all of that of course is normal," she explained. "But just bringing them in as peaceful and gentle a way as possible."
Hilarie Burton
Both times Hilarie Burton gave birth, her husband, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, delivered the baby. "We didn't use doctors; we used a midwife so I delivered both of my kids," he told People. "The first time I didn't know, I was shocked that I was part of it. I thought I was going to hold the leg, tell her to hopefully breathe, and I wasn't ready when I took my position."
When it came time to deliver his second child, he was more prepared. "[I] got in and got her out immediately. As soon as her head breached, I reached in there, grabbed her by the cheeks, and got her out. Hilarie was over it, so it was awesome. I got to deliver both my kids for real. It was cool."
Kourtney Kardashian
If Jeffrey Dean Morgan thought it was wild to deliver his own kids, he should talk to Kourtney Kardashian. She may have been the one giving birth, but she's also the one who pulled her kids out, too. As documented in the Keeping Up With the Kardashians series, Kourtney felt overcome with a need to help her babies out, and she just reached down to do it herself.
Busy Philipps
When Busy Philipps gave birth to her first child, Birdie, she took the Kourtney Kardashian route and did the end of the delivery process herself. "I don't know what I thought was going to happen beforehand, but I was completely squatting and after my doctor got [Birdie's] head and shoulders out, she asked, 'Do you want to pull your baby out? Give me your hands.'" And Busy did.
Alexi Ashe
Seth Meyers' wife, Alexi Ashe, accidentally gave birth to their son Axel in the lobby of their apartment building. "I looked at my wife and the only way that I can describe how my wife looked was she looked like someone who was hiding a baby in a pair of sweatpants," he said. "It was like somebody was trying to sneak a baby on the plane." Fortunately, all went smoothly despite taking place outside a hospital, and Seth later named one of his comedy specials Lobby Baby.
Troian Bellisario
Troian Bellisario and her husband, Suits star Patrick J. Adams, had almost made it to the hospital for the birth of their second child, but then she started crowning in the parking lot. So Patrick delivered the baby himself. "There was no room for panic," he said. "You just need to deal with this situation." With about three minutes of pushing, their daughter was born.
Camille Carson
The hour-long drive to the hospital was too much for Camille Carson, who is married to Midland band member Jess Carson. She ended up giving birth in the hospital parking lot, just like Troian Bellisario. Jess said he was "terrified," but their son came out with relative ease, and all was well. "He sure does know how to make an entrance," Jess said.
Teyana Taylor
When having her daughter in 2015, Teyana shared on Instagram that she didn't know she was in labor until it was too late. "It took two ten-count pushes with my fiancé playing doctor and she entered this world into his bare hands!" Teyana said of welcoming the baby in her bathroom at home. Now-husband Iman Shumpert even had to use headphones as an umbilical cord clamp until help arrived.
Teyana Taylor, Again
If you thought the couple would have had an easier birth for their second child, you'd be wrong. When they had their daughter Rue in 2020, Teyana once again gave birth in their bathroom. She joked on Instagram: "Now when we buy homes, we always find a bathroom with great energy. But not in a million years would you be able to tell me we'd deliver both of our daughters in a bathroom without the assistance of a hospital!"
Jade Roper
Like with Teyana, Bachelor star Jade Roper knows what it's like to unexpectedly give birth at home. Her son Brooks came so fast that she had him in her closet. "I've been still processing the shock of this all, as this was not at all what I had planned, but I am so thankful for each person who helped bring our son into the world safely," Jade wrote on Instagram after Brooks was delivered.
"Long story short, my waters broke and 75 minutes later I gave birth to our healthy baby boy while clutching a bench in our closet. It was one of the scariest moments of my life because I felt so out of control, but Tanner, Tanner's mom, my mom, and the medics and firefighters kept me going when I felt like the world was caving in on me and my unborn baby."
Morgan Beck
Bode Miller had to deliver not one baby but two when his wife, Morgan Beck, went into labor with twins before the midwives could make it. "By the time they got there, me and my mom were both holding the babies," he said on Today. "Luckily my mom was a midwife, but she hadn't delivered babies in 20-plus years, and she never delivered twins. We're both pretty relaxed and pretty casual, but we were certainly not qualified to be doing an unassisted home delivery of twins."
Ryan Michelle Bathe
The unexpected birth of Sterling K. Brown's son with Ryan Michelle Bathe later inspired a similar storyline on This Is Us. Sterling explained how it unfolded in real life: "Basically, she's on all fours, I look down, the baby's head is out. The midwife's like, 'That's fantastic, just wait for mommy to push again. Catch the baby so you can put him on mommy's chest and they can start bonding.'" So in classic Randall Pearson fashion, he did just that.
Zara Tindall
Queen Elizabeth's granddaughter Zara Tindall had a dramatic labor experience with her third child in March 2021. With no time to make it to the hospital for her son Lucas' birth, Zara instead welcomed him on her bathroom floor. Zara's husband, Mike Tindall, later joked that her home birth was ideal for him. "The best thing about being at home … as soon as he's wrapped up, he's skin on skin, straight downstairs. TV room. Golf on. This is what we're doing."
