Hallmark star Jen Lilley loves to talk about motherhood. Whether she documents her experience fostering and adopting her two oldest boys or shares pregnancy announcements of her two younger daughters, the mother-of-four has always been forthcoming about how she juggles parenthood with her in-demand career, which spans the big and small screens. Not surprisingly, 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 establishing a diet that worked for her. “It was difficult because we shot the movie in Bulgaria, so it was a bit difficult to find things in Bulgaria that I could eat…” she shared IBT about filming in 2019. “They have all these delicious cheeses and all these things that you just can’t (get) because you don’t know if they’re pasteurized or not. So it was difficult.” However, hiding her baby bump while filming was also an obstacle. “Two weeks into my bump showing,” she continued, adding: “So when I walk towards 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 changed the shots like that.” Despite the unexpected challenges, “Paris, Wine and Romance” wasn’t the only Hallmark movie Lilley shot while pregnant.
Jen Lilley filmed three Hallmark movies while pregnant
Jen Lilley is one of them Celebrities you didn’t know were filmed while you were pregnant during the production of “Paris, Wine and Romance,” and that’s probably because it wasn’t her first rodeo. Lilley actually filmed three Hallmark movies during her first pregnancy, the first being 2019’s “Love Unleashed.” Fortunately, Lilley was much earlier in his journey, which made shooting a breeze – except for one small thing. “This one was only challenging because it was cold, but it was the easiest, I think, as far as being pregnant goes,” she shared. 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 it was amazing because I’ve worked with that team and Christie on five different movies,” 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 didn’t just prove that she’s not the type to let pregnancy slow her down. She also returned to work almost immediately. In December 2019, while promoting her Christmas film, “Angel Falls: A Novel Holiday,” she revealed that she only took 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 shared A. “She’s my first biological, but because I already had two babies before her (one through adoption and the other in foster care), I was used to how a child just turns your life upside down and adjusts.” She continued, “So I don’t know if I could have done it.”
