HOLLYOAKS star Kirsty-Leigh Porter shocked fans when she announced the birth of her first child on Instagram on Wednesday.
The 31-year-old actress, who plays Leela Lomax, shared a picture from the hospital of her partner Paul Barber carrying their newborn in a car seat.
The birth of the baby comes almost two years after the death of her stillborn daughter, Penny-Leigh, and the soap star chose to keep her second pregnancy secret.
But rather than keeping herself off-show, Kirsty continued to post selfies on Instagram and even filmed episodes of Hollyoaks, without fans ever twigging that she was expecting.
From baggy tops to very clever angles Kirsty made sure that she never gave anyone a hint of her bump.
Here we reveal how she kept her pregnancy a secret…
CLEVER STYLING
Kirsty shared a full-length mirror selfie back in September, when she would have been around 28 weeks pregnant.
At that stage of pregnancy women can expect to have a substantial baby bump, but you wouldn’t have guessed Kirsty was carrying from the snap.
The actress was pictured wearing a baggy striped shirt that gaped around her stomach where she had artfully tucked it into her jeans.
The new mum has also positioned her black handbag in front of where her bump would be protruding in the picture.
UNUSUAL ANGLES
In June, when Kirsty is likely to have started to show, the actress posted a sultry selfie from the set of Hollyoaks.
But rather than put her body on display, Kirsty has positioned herself just off-centre in the mirror.
The 31-year-old has then placed her arm on her baggy dress so that it is pulled taught in front of her bump and taken the photo at an angle where her stomach is out of focus.
SELFIE QUEEN
While Kirsty was limited to certain poses throughout her pregnancy, selfies were not one of them.
The mum-to-be frequently posted snaps of her face on social media to prevent her fans from twigging that anything was up.
SET SMARTS
Kirsty will appear in the festive special of Hollyoaks, which was filmed when she was still carrying her baby.
And judging by photos taken on-set the crew have been careful to film Kirsty from the waist-up in scenes she features in.
The wardrobe department has also been careful when it comes to Leela’s clothes dressing the actress in oversize shirts that take the focus away from her bump.
In other celebrity news, we reveal the best and the worst of the celebrity Christmas door decor.
And these are the soap stars that look worlds away from their on-screen characters.
Plus Molly-Mae Hague has spent £8k REVERSING cosmetic procedures to look more ‘natural’ – as she has fillers dissolved.
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