Charmed Articles

Pregnant stars get creative cover-ups
By Donna Freydkin, USA TODAY

The persistent nausea is gone. So are the headaches. Now, Charmed sorceress Holly Marie Combs can enjoy her first pregnancy.

"My boobs are getting bigger. My stomach is definitely bigger," says Combs, who's due in late April (the dad is her boyfriend, David Donoho). "I'm in all of my fat jeans right now, and let me just say that I'm about two days away from giving them up for maternity pants."

Luckily, her pregnancy will be written into the witchy WB show (Sundays, 8 p.m. ET/PT), but not until January. There's no final word yet on how it will be worked in or who the TV father will be. But the delay means that Combs, 30, has to conceal her belly into her sixth month.

"Our clothes are form-fitting, but my character is going to have to get a little more casual," Combs says. "I might appear in a couple of sweatshirts, for the first time ever. We've never dealt with this before."

The magician dealing with it is Charmed costumer Eilish, one of the stylists camouflaging burgeoning tummies. It's just the latest installment of TV's age-old battle of the bumps. Julia Louis-Dreyfus' pregnancy was concealed on Seinfeld, as was Sarah Jessica Parker's on Sex and the City and both of Jane Kaczmarek's on Malcolm in the Middle. But Lisa Kudrow's was written in on Friends, and so was Camryn Manheim's on The Practice.

Until Combs' character is with child, she's wearing relaxed, loose clothes. Her Theory pants are "stretchy now, with nothing binding her," Eilish says.

Combs' new tops are cut slightly below the waist. She tops them off with Fred Segal or Traffic sweaters, Earl or DKNY jean jackets and those distracting big scarves.

"When she starts showing for real, probably after Christmas, I'll go to the high-end pregnancy things, or I just might design pieces for her because she's so little and petite," Eilish says. "But I'm lucky, because when she gets really big, she'll be pregnant on the show."

Actress Holly Marie Combs creates an enchanting space for her first child

"They like to say I was a year late," says Charmed co-star Holly Marie Combs of her show's producers. "I like to say they were a year early." On the WB series Combs plays a new mom, but this month she gets to experience the real thing - which has given the 30-year-old actress the chance to plan a room for her own son.

The contemporary-looking nursery her character uses on the set wasn't so much an inspiration as an impetus for change. "I didn't like it," says Combs. For her own ranch-style house in California's San Fernando Valley, she says, she wanted the nursery to be "traditional and antique, and incorporate aspects of our personalities, because that's what it's all about." Combs and husband David Donoho picked the theme and a mint-green color scheme, then whipped up a little magic. To get the same look (no spells required), read on.

Combs picked bedding in gingham and a farm print (Wendy Bee, $219 for a bumper, one sheet, a blanket and a skirt; 877-936-3923 or wendybee.net). "I have found horses, and my family has always been into horses," she says. To continue the pastoral theme she chose a pig blanket ($34; at the Hidden Chateau & Gardens, 818-610-3228) and a plush horse ($30; at Toys R Us, 800-869-7787).

To add a personal touch Combs placed baby photos of her and her husband on a silver-plated tray from the Hidden Chateau & Gardens ($52; 818-610-3228). (Yes, that's Combs atop a horse on the right.) The silver-plated heart rattle is from Posh Tots ($25; 866-767-4868).

"I knew I wanted the room green, because I didn't want it to be the typical boy-blue," says Combs. "I also wanted to keep this room neutral in case we have more kids." She commissioned a Peter Rabbit mural from painter Gilda Almeida ($1,500; Embellishments by Gilda, 805-241-0966). The Morigeau-Lépine sleigh crib ($779; the Juvenile Shop, 818-986-6214), stained a cognac color, goes with the dark wood in the rest of the house. The mobile with teddy bears and hearts is from Bellini ($37; 818-990-0860).