When I was newly pregnant with my first child, I booked this theater gig; it was a farce; it was a lot of physical comedy. I was very excited about it. I love physical comedy. I auditioned, and I booked it! And it being my first pregnancy and being a woman in the entertainment industry, I was very uncertain about when to tell people about it.

I wasn’t showing yet when I accepted the job, but I knew that the run was six weeks, and then they were hoping to extend it to a longer run. So they were trying to lock me down for all that time. And I knew by the end of the extension, I would be showing a baby belly.

Knowing that I couldn’t hide it all the way to the end, and frankly, being a naively honest person, I let them know, “Hey, by the end of this extension, this character will either be pregnant or we will need to make some costume adjustments.”

They said, “Okay, let me get back to you on that.” And then the next phone call… they fire me. Fired! They said I was a “liability.” They were concerned about something happening to the baby, and getting sued, I guess?

I was blindsided. Heartbroken. This role was so right for me and was going to be so much fun. And because, unfortunately, it was not an equity (union) contract, I didn’t feel I had any recourse.

Their decision really changed everything for me. I felt like I had to hide the rest of my pregnancy so I wouldn’t lose other opportunities. And how sad is that? To hide this amazing thing you’re doing – growing another human!

This business can be much tougher on women than it is on men. And this was one of those hard and painful lessons that really drove that home.

Wanna read the longer version of this story? You can find that here.