Highlights:
- Deepika Padukone has liked a social media post urging people to stop speculating about women faking their pregnancies, reports say.
- It comes as she and Ranveer Singh mark daughter Dua's second birthday with a maternity photoshoot revealing Deepika's second pregnancy, a post that has already drawn over seven million likes.
- The scrutiny echoes almost exactly what Deepika faced during her first pregnancy in 2024, when online speculation questioned whether her baby bump was even real.
Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh marked their daughter Dua's second birthday this week with a monochrome maternity photoshoot, revealing Deepika's second pregnancy alongside the toddler. The post went viral within hours, racking up millions of likes, with plenty of fans also unable to get over how much Dua has come to resemble her father. It also appears to have reopened a conversation Deepika has been here for once already.
What actually happened this time?
Reports say Deepika liked a post specifically addressing the pattern of speculation around women's pregnancies, carrying a simple, direct message: "Let her have this moment." She didn't need to write a lengthy statement of her own. A like on a post making that exact point was enough to make clear where she stands on a conversation that, for her, isn't new.
Why does this feel familiar?
Because it is. When Deepika's first pregnancy became public in February 2024, after she was spotted concealing her midriff at the BAFTA Awards red carpet, speculation quickly turned uglier than a straightforward pregnancy announcement usually attracts. Commentators questioned her weight gain, accused her of wearing a prosthetic bump, and treated the entire subject as a puzzle to be solved rather than a family's private news. The scrutiny escalated further when she wore heels during promotions for Kalki 2898 AD while pregnant, treated by some online as evidence rather than an ordinary choice. Commentators pushed back hard at the time, pointing out that low weight gain in pregnancy is medically normal and has nothing to do with whether a pregnancy is genuine.
Two years on, with a second pregnancy and a second baby bump now public, a version of the same commentary has resurfaced, just aimed at a new set of photos.
| The pattern, then and now | |
|---|---|
| First pregnancy speculation began | February 2024, after BAFTA Awards appearance |
| Daughter Dua born | 8 September 2024 |
| Peak of "fake bump" trolling | During Kalki 2898 AD promotions |
| Second pregnancy revealed | 8 September 2026, on Dua's second birthday |
| Deepika's response this time | Liked a post directly addressing the pattern |
Why does a "like" carry any weight here?
Because it's a deliberate, public signal, even without a paragraph of explanation attached. Deepika has generally kept her responses to online noise brief and pointed rather than drawn-out, something she's done before when addressing unrelated speculation about her professional choices. A like on a post naming this exact pattern reads less like an offhand click and more like someone declining to relitigate the same argument in her own words a second time, letting someone else's post do the talking instead.
What does this say about how this kind of scrutiny actually works?
That it isn't really about any individual photo. The same questions, the same accusations, the same demand that a pregnant woman's body prove itself to strangers online, followed Deepika through her first pregnancy and have shown up again for her second, almost on schedule. That repetition is the real story here, more than any single post or comment thread. It's not a one-off pile-on. It's a pattern public figures are expected to absorb every time, and Deepika's response this time suggests she'd rather not pretend otherwise.
