Elizabeth Banks Tells Mommyish Why She Won’t Be Mother Of The Year

When I visited the set of What To Expect When You’re Expecting, myself and a group of other mommy bloggers were offered a quick sit down with Elizabeth Banks. Waddling over wearing a fake pregnancy bump and a maternity dress at the Georgia World Congress Center, she was taking just a few moments out of an important scene for her character, Wendy — breastfeeding advocate, baby boutique owner, and expectant mother disillusioned with pregnancy.

My first question to the actress was about that pregnancy suit which impeded both her posture and her walk. She told me that the belly weighed approximately 10 pounds and the boobs were a whopping eight pounds.

“Each?” I asked.

She and the other mommies chuckled as she confessed that she was actually seeking out massages due to the suit. When asked about her character, Elizabeth confessed that she had done a little shopping for her own infant son, Felix, in her character’s fictitious shop — picking through baby clothes and toys between takes.

Her baby boy was on set from time to time being tended to by a nanny, but Elizabeth said that he was hardly a fixture.

“He has a lot of shit he brings with him,” she commented with a smile. Little Felix was born via surrogate in March of 2011, a decision that the mother has been very open about.

“That was my favorite part about pregnancy — that I didn’t do it,” she laughed. Elizabeth revealed in Lucky Magazine not too long ago that she and her husband Max Handelman considered surrogacy after embryos refused to take in her womb.  “I had a unique path to my son. Everybody’s journey to their child is different.”

Elizabeth espoused common sense when it comes to parenting, but finds contemporary mommy culture to be much too fraught with judgement and perfection. Everyday that she comes home and finds her son to be alive in her nanny’s care is a success as far as she is concerned, she said. At the same time, she won’t be touting her own parenting accomplishments any time soon.

“I don’t take too much confidence in myself as a mom because I know my failures are right around the corner,” the actress admitted.

Elizabeth was then grabbed by an assistant and asked to return to set. Sometime later, a dark-haired woman sat next to us with a baby who I sensed was not an extra. Elizabeth waddled back over and scooped up the infant, hugging her nanny as she asked about his day.

(photo: WENN)