How Rachel McAdams Kept Her Pregnancy a Secret Before Welcoming Baby Boy

How Rachel McAdams hid her pregnancy by keeping out of the public eye

Published on April 11, 2018 02:50 PM

Rachel McAdams has recently become a master at keeping a low profile.

Fans were shocked when reports of the 39-year-old’s pregnancy broke in mid-February, and although the actress never appeared in public with her baby bump, she was recently seen walking beside boyfriend Jamie Linden, who appeared to be carrying a newborn baby boy in his arms.

A rep for McAdams couldn’t be reached for comment.

Though the couple has been dating for over a year, they are extremely private — the actress and screenwriter have never walked a red carpet together and were able to keep the pregnancy a complete secret. They were first pictured together in Paris ahead of the Cannes Film Festival in May 2016 as they waited to get into the Louvre.

Rachel McAdams and Jamie Linden

The last time McAdams appeared at a public event was at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September 2017 where she stopped by the PEOPLE and Entertainment Weekly studio with no baby bump in sight. The actress said she was looking forward to the upcoming Mean Girls musical which Tina Fey adapted for Broadway.

“I really hope I get an invitation, yeah,” said the actress, who played Plastics queen Regina George in the film. “I would love to see it. I’m so, so curious about it. I’ll be the understudy. I just hope Regina George never gets sick.”

Since then, McAdams has been completely absent from the spotlight. She skipped all press appearances for her comedy Game Night also starring Jason Bateman, including the movie’s Los Angeles premiere where Jennifer Aniston was spotted shortly after her divorce.

She has yet to catch a showing of Mean Girls and didn’t attend the musical’s official opening on Sunday. She told PEOPLE in February that she didn’t have a ticket for it yet but was looking forward to attending and hoped it will have “a nice long run.”

Rachel McAdams at the 2017 Toronto Film Festival

The actress is not currently scheduled to appear at the April 24 premiere of Disobedience at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, but her costar Rachel Weisz will be attending. McAdams previously spoke to PEOPLE about the movie and praised Weisz. The two play forbidden lovers in a strict Orthodox Jewish community.

“This was such an interesting world to dive into, the Orthodox Jewish world,” she said. “Rachel is Jewish and she knows a little bit of it. We actually shot in London in her neighborhood, so she was such a great wealth of knowledge about the work and she is such an extraordinary actress. She was a producer on the film as well so she was very involved.”

RELATED VIDEO: Rachel McAdams Would Love to See the ‘Mean Girls’ Musical

McAdams told PEOPLE back in 2009 that she wanted to be a mom someday as she promoted the film The Time Traveler’s Wife in which she played a mother.

“Having a few [kids] would be great,” McAdams said, adding that she’s “looking forward to it someday.”

The actress also pointed to her own mother for setting an example she hoped to follow.

“My mom is a great inspiration to me,” she said. “She’s a nurse and very nurturing and gentle. She lets me be who I am. Hopefully I can take on those qualities and be as great as her.”