Laura Linney had her reasons for keeping her 2014 pregnancy with son Bennett under wraps.
The 52-year-old actress talked about her decision to remain quiet about the big news right up until she gave birth during her appearance on Live! With Kelly on Friday. Linney welcomed her first child with husband Marc Schauer on Jan. 8, 2014. She was 49 years old at the time.
"Well, I was an older mother-to-be, and it had taken me a very long time to have a child," Linney told Live! host Kelly Ripa, who remarked that the actress was pregnant during her last appearance on the ABC morning show and nobody was aware. "I wanted to make sure that my child actually arrived, and was safe and healthy."
"I was just very, very quiet about it -- I didn't hide it intentionally, I just didn't advertise it," she added. "So, it was the right thing for me and my family."
Linney insisted that nobody ever questioned her about her pregnancy.
"No, but I was going to the theater when I was eight months pregnant, no one said a thing," she recalled. "I mean, I wasn't hiding, and then when I actually had the baby, this big deal was made about, 'She was secret, secret, secret!' And no, I just didn't have a sign that said, 'Hi, I'm pregnant now.'"
While people may not have noticed she was expecting, the Love Actually star did admit to having some pregnancy problems.
"Well, I vomited a lot," Linney smiled. "A lot. So, yeah, I wasn't huge."
Linney also said her now 2-year-old son is doing "great."
Of course, the actress isn't the only star giving birth at a later age. Last month, a source confirmed to ET that singer Janet Jackson, 50, was pregnant with her first child with husband Wissam Al Mana.
Watch the video below to see 17 celebrity moms who gave birth in their 40s.
