Malcolm Mom's Pregnant Pause

How did Malcolm in the Middle mom Jane Kaczmarek manage to hide her real-life pregnancy during the show's first season? It wasn't easy.

"If you check out the shows you can see me indulging in the fine art of keeping my tummy off-camera," Kaczmarek tells TV Guide Online. One thing viewers will never get to see: the pregnant actress scarfing down Tootsie Rolls from the set's snack table between scenes.

"The worst was the episode where I was in a bubble bath," she recalls. "I thought that would be a great idea but sitting in lukewarm water for hours turned out to be less than luxurious. I have to admit that by the end I got a little itchy, but at least the bubbles kept my tummy covered."

She was ready to give birth to her son by the time the popular Fox sitcom hit the airwaves earlier this year; it's the second child for Kaczmarek and husband Bradley Whitford, star of the hit NBC drama The West Wing.

"Bradley works a lot harder than I do," Kaczmarek says of her star hubby. "Every week he has to memorize all those great lines. I just come to the set and yell at the kids and hang around the snack table. It's very relaxing."