Yahoo Finance Jessica Biel gives rare update on birthing 'secret COVID baby' with Justin Timberlake
Jessica Biel is shedding light on secretly welcoming her second child with Justin Timberlake midway through 2020.
During her appearance on Monday's episode of the podcast "Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard," Biel revealed she and her "NSYNC" alum husband didn't plan on keeping the new addition to their family under wraps.
"I had, like, a secret COVID baby," the "Cruel Summer" executive producer said. "It wasn't like it was supposed to be a secret. It was just, COVID happened, and then I went to Montana with my family and never left."
Biel said she gave birth during the summer of 2020, though Timberlake didn't publicly confirm the news until January. As her due date approached, Biel wasn't sure if Timberlake would be allowed into the hospital, which had implemented restrictions on guests due to COVID-19, she said.
Luckily, Biel said the hospital "had just changed" its restrictions of not allowing anybody "at all" before she gave birth.
"I was really getting nervous about that situation," she said. "But yes, he was allowed. I think if I had to be there alone, that would have been horrible. I would have been really scared."
According to Biel, parenting a newborn again six years after having their first child has been a "big change." The couple share 6-year-old Silas in addition to 11-month-old Phineas.
"Someone said to me, 'Two is like having a thousand,' and that's exactly what it feels like," she said. "The balance of everything is very different and super hard."
But Biel added motherhood's been "amazing," especially now that Silas is old enough to have full conversations.
"The conversations I'm having now with my 6-year-old (are) so cool," she said. "Like, he's a real person, saying the funniest stuff, and he's so sensitive and tender. It's just so interesting to see that part of it happen, and the little one is just cute as hell."
Jessica Biel shares rare comments about 'wild, crazy' family life with Justin Timberlake
As for whether her sons will follow in their parents' footsteps and pursue careers in entertainment, Biel said the couple is going to leave that up to their kids to decide.
"My knee-jerk reaction is 'Oh god, no. Please no,' " she said with a laugh. "But then, I look at these kids and I'm like, 'Oh (expletive), they're probably going to be musical.' What are we going to do? Like, not let them play the piano? Or not let them take a voice lesson if that's their passion?"
She continued: "I don't want to be that parent to stifle a dream, but, man, if my kid would just be like, 'Let's go learn about corn in Iowa,' (I'd be like), 'Great.' I would so much rather them be an engineer or something."
Timberlake confirmed that he and Biel welcomed Phineas during his January appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." Biel returned to the same talk show in April to share how she's been coping with recent parenting challenges, such as sleep training their newborn.
Justin Timberlake confirms he and Jessica Biel welcomed their second child, a boy named Phineas
According to Biel, sleep training, which involves letting a baby cry until drifting off to sleep, has been "so hard" to watch as a mom.
"It's so hard to let them cry for even a few minutes. And that's sort of the sleep training we were doing, which is … you just let them go for a couple minutes then you go in and go 'You're good. You're fine,' " she explained, adding that Phineas "did a beautiful job."
However, she said there's been a silver lining to the chaos of parenting: seeing her sons get along.
"It is so cute to see these two together, because they both think the other one is hilarious," she said.
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Contributing: Jenna Ryu, Hannah Yasharoff
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jessica Biel gets candid on 'secret COVID baby' with Justin Timberlake
