Tori Spelling was slammed after posting a fake pregnancy announcement as an April Fools Day gag this Thursday.
The 47-year-old actress and mother-of-five cause a stir with her April 1st Instagram post, where she cradled her bare belly while posing in what looked like a doctor’s office and suggested she was expecting another kid with the caption: ‘No. 6.’
Fans were unclear if the post was an ill-timed announcement or a terribly tasteless April Fools Day prank, with the comments split between confusion and congratulations before the snap was revealed to be a stunt by one of Spelling’s friends.
Poor taste: Tori Spelling sent people into a frenzy when she pretended to be pregnant for an April Fools Day joke, with many slamming the gag as ‘insensitive’ and ‘tacky’
Tori’s age also piqued peoples’ eyebrows, as pregnancies past the age of 35 are medically considered ‘geriatric pregnancies.’
‘This has to be an April Fools’s [sic] joke????’ wrote Bravo’s notoriously blunt Flipping Out star Jeff Lewis.
Others reminded Tori that practical jokes about pregnancy are a big no-no on April Fools Day, with one commenter explaining: ‘This better be true cause it’s NOT funny joking about being pregnant[.] A lot of women would be triggered by this ! Hopefully it’s true and congratulations.’
‘If this is an April Fools joke you’re gonna get so roasted,’ wrote another, adding a ‘see no evil’ monkey emoji.
Continuing that message, others told the Beverly Hills, 90210 actress joking about expecting was ‘tacky,’ ‘trashy,’ ‘tone deaf.’
‘If this is an April Fools joke shame on you. Pregnancy is not a practical joke!’
Confusion: There was tons of confusion in the comments, with some congratulating the mother-of-five while others reminded her pregnancy is a nothing to joke about
Others took the post at face value and flocked to the comments to sent their love..
Actress Dawn McCoy seemed happy for Spelling, commenting: ‘Ohhhhhhh!!! This is the BEST news!!! I’m so happy for you!! A delicious little half dozen!!!’
‘Omg Tori!!!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️,’ commented radio host Jessica Hall.
While fans and friends seemed split in the comments, Tori’s hairstylist friend Laura Rugetti later revealed it was a gag on her social media.
Rugetti shared to her Instagram Story with Spelling in the morning, only to repost the faux-nouncement in the afternoon and add, ‘Tori, did you not tell me something this morning?’
Spelling already shares kids Liam, 14, Stella, 12, Hattie, nine, Finn, eight and Beau, four with husband of 15-years Dean McDermott.
All a joke: Tori’s friend and hairstylist Laura Rugetti seemed to confirm Spelling was kidding after reposting the faux-nnouncement and writing ‘Tori, did you not tell me something this morning?’
Big family: Spelling already shares kids Liam, 14, Stella, 12, Hattie, nine, Finn, eight and Beau, four with husband of 15-years Dean McDermott. They’re seen in December 2019 above
She’s also stepmom to McDermott’s 22-year-old son Jack, whose mom is Dean’s first wife Mary Jo Eustace.
Tori’s pretend pregnancy comes at an interesting time for the star, who was wedding ring-free while running errands around LA last week, right on the heels of rumors she and the Canadian actor had split.
Recently the star deleted the word ‘wife’ from her Instagram bio, leaving it at: ‘Actress/Mother/Writer/DIYer.’
Further fueling the rumors, Dean was conspicuously absent from the family’s 2020 Christmas card.
And when Tori’s castmate Jennie Garth gushed about husband Dave Abrams during a visit to her pal’s 90210MG podcast this month, Spelling didn’t have a single word to say about McDermott.
The relationship has been rocky for Spelling, who already enduring Dean’s infidelity in 2013.
Tori reflected on the romance in 2017, telling People: ‘I look back and I remember doing interviews probably seven years ago … I was like, “It’s easy, we don’t have to work at it. We have this great marriage.”‘
’11 years later, I’m like, “It’s a lot of work.” It takes work and I took that for granted — I think we both did. We thought, “Oh, our relationship just works,’ and the truth is, no relationship just works.”‘
Dean explained why he thinks ‘monogamy is hard’ during a 2019 chat with Us Weekly, citing ‘several reasons’ like ‘wanting that initial lust that we have intrinsically built into’ men.
‘Men, we’re like, we need to spread our seed everywhere. It’s [been] in our DNA for millions and millions of years. There’s that, but then there’s also, “Oh, God. This relationship is work.” And it is. Every relationship is work and when you get to that point, you can’t bail. You’ve gotta knuckle under and work it out.’