Laura Prepon, star of the hit series Orange Is the New Black, has announced that she and her husband, Ben Foster, have welcomed their second child.
Laura and Ben haven't provided any details about the baby's sex or name, and a photo that Laura posted to Instagram was simply captioned, "Welcoming home our new bundle of love. Overwhelmed with gratitude. ❤️❤️❤️❤️."
Laura and Ben first shared that they were expecting again back in October 2019. Their daughter, Ella, was born in June 2017.
Laura has spoken about balancing the demands of being a mom who works outside the home. She spoke on The Moms and said, "Ben and I are really great about if I’m at work, he’s [at home], and if he’s at work, I’m [at home],” she said. “[But] I do feel guilty, and I just know that [Ella would] be proud if she knew. I’ve talked to a bunch of women [asking], ‘How do you do this?’ And they’re just like, ‘There’s really no solution. You just do it.’"
Laura also spoke about another frequent topic — mom-shaming:
“Even with some women having to bottle feed their babies earlier rather than breastfeed and the mom shaming that goes on … I don’t allow that anywhere near me or my friends. Being a mom is the most incredible gift in the world and it’s one of the hardest things, as we all can relate to, and we just all have to help each other. So the mom shaming … I can’t even begin to understand that.”
Laura shared that a friend gave her great advice about maintaining a good mom/work balance — stay positive:
“I was talking to [a friend] about that — she took time off and then went back to work, she has two young kids at home — and she’s like, ‘Here’s one thing I always do: Whenever I go to work, I’m never like, ‘Oh, Mommy has to go to work.’ She’s like, ‘Mommy has to go to work!’”
Laura went on to add:
“And then her kids are like, ‘Oh!’ and they associate work with something positive. She told me that and I was like, ‘That’s a great idea.’ That’s something I can put in my tool belt that I can use. I can apply that right away, because if you make it like, ‘Ugh, I gotta go to work, that sucks,’ it’s negative. You never want that.”
She also joked that the only way women convince themselves to have more babies must be some kind of amnesia:
“I also think that humanity is based on female amnesia. When I had my kid, I’m like, ‘How do people do this more than once?’ You really forget it. You forget those first months. I’m like, ‘I don’t even remember how hard my labor was. I want another one.’ I talk to other mothers and they’re like, ‘I don’t really remember!’”
Laura and Ben have been married since June 2018, and trying to plan a wedding with their demanding schedules was a challenge. Laura spoke to E! News about their plans before the wedding:
“He’s going off to do two movies. I just wrapped last week. It’s just, you know, scheduling. It’s a lot.”
She also shared that they were having trouble figuring out the guest list:
“We want a really small wedding but we have a lot of people that we love and care about. It’s weird, [but] apparently doing the list for your wedding is a whole thing that could cause some issues. Our cast alone is like, 50 people!”
While more details have not been revealed about their newest baby, we can all probably guess that the new family of four is feeling pretty happy right now. Laura also doesn't have any current projects (at least not any that are listed on her IMDB page), so it's a pretty ideal time to have a sweet newborn in the home. We look forward to finding out more about the baby when the family is ready.
