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Issa Rae was recently nominated for a Lead Actress in a Comedy Emmy for the last season of Insecure and is on The Today Show’s first digital cover. Issa is super private about her personal life. It somehow doesn’t seem like it due to her epnonymous characters and interviews with her familiar voice, but she is. When she got married last year it was a big surprise to many, though she’d been with her now-husband for years and even mentioned him in her memoir. She purposely keeps her personal life off of social media and off the gossip blogs, but being so private sometimes invites speculation. Issa told Today that speculation led her mom to believe a tabloid report that she was pregnant.

From Awkward Black Girl to bona fide mogul, Issa Rae has managed to become one of the biggest names in the entertainment industry without compromising her privacy.

“There’s an expectation people have that you need to keep up with their lives on social media, and it’s like, ‘No, you’ve got to talk to me,'” the 37-year-old told Today for its first-ever digital cover.

In July 2021, Rae shocked fans everywhere when she posted a photo on Instagram of her and her husband from their wedding.

This surprised Rae’s followers, many of whom didn’t even know the Insecure star was in a relationship.

The photos have since been taken down, a hint at the shift Rae plans to take with her social media, as it seems she is primarily using the app for marketing her latest projects.

Still, this change may not be permanent, as Rae loves to keep her fans on their toes as much as she loves to keep them out of her business.

“Maybe if I have a child, I’ll feel like, ‘Everybody needs to see this thing!’ I don’t know!” she said.

While a glimpse at baby Rae is not entirely ruled out, she has had to make it clear that she’s not expecting, even after rampant internet speculation led to her own mother thinking she was pregnant.

“My sister sent me a screenshot of my mom texting her an article like, ‘Did she tell you … Are the rumors true?’ I was like, ‘What?!’ [My sister] was like, ‘Not Mom believing in gossip!’ I was like, ‘But she texted you and she didn’t even ask me!’ I’m like, ‘Mom, a pregnancy … you really think that I would hide a grandchild from you? That you’ve been begging for?!’ So I had to say something, because it was getting out of hand,” she explained.

[From Yahoo! Entertainment]

This story is funny — that her mom believed it and that she texted Issa’s sister instead of Issa. Issa is so busy with all her various projects, maybe her mom thought her sister would send a quicker response. Other celebrities have told stories about their mom believing tabloid reports too. I guess some people just believe whatever they read online. Issa being so private makes sense. Given her show of course she would want to separate herself from her character and how better to do that than pulling back. She wants the focus to be on her great work and she is not one of those celebs who is going to make her marriage and motherhood part of her brand. I feel like Issa is the type to have a quiet pregnancy and then be like “surprise, bitches, here’s my baby” like she did with her wedding pics. She did also allude to future motherhood in the Vulture interview when Insecure wrapped, so we’ll see. I miss Insecure. Issa is in the Barbie movie and her latest show, Rap Sh-t, just premiered on HBO Max. She’s not in it, but I’ll be watching!

photos credit: Avalon.red, Cover Images and via Instagram/The Today Show