Celebrity Pregnancies on the 18th-Century English Stage with Dr. Chelsea Phillips

A conversation with Dr. Chelsea Phillips, author of Carrying All Before Her: Celebrity Pregnancy and the London Stage, 1689–1800

Few things excite the public imagination like a celebrity pregnancy. When it comes to the famous and glamorous, we want to know who’s expecting, how that changes the way they dress and appear in public, and a myriad of other details. But our obsession with pregnant celebrities has deeper historical roots than you might imagine.

Dr. Chelsea Phillips joins us to explore how pregnancy intersected with the rise of celebrity culture on the 18th-century London stage in her new book Carrying All Before Her: Celebrity Pregnancy and the London Stage, 1689–1800.