Hollywood actress Jessica Oyelowo has claimed a TV producer branded her ‘stupid and annoying’ after she told him she was pregnant with her first child.
The wife of actor David Oyelowo, 49, said the incident happened in 2001, but claims attitudes towards women in the industry have barely changed since.
She said: ‘I didn’t know I was pregnant yet, but I got a job and I found out after I’d signed my contracts and started doing costume fittings.
Declining to name the shows she was working on, she added: ‘It was a job for TV – a few episodes on this TV show in 2001.
‘The first person I told was the main producer, “Look, I want to let you know, I’m pregnant. I’m very well, I’m very young, I’m very healthy.
Jessica Oyelowo has claimed that a TV producer branded her ‘stupid and annoying’ after she told him she was pregnant with her first child (pictured with her husband actor David Oyelowo)
‘I just wanted to let you know so you could be prepared.”
‘He said, “You women! You’re so annoying. You always ruin my projects with having babies. So stupid.”
‘Things haven’t changed that much [since].’
Jessica and David met in their teens at a summer theatre camp and later married in London in 1998.
The Silo actor previously revealed his wife is a member of Mensa – a society for people with an IQ in the top 2 per cent of the population – after an ADHD test revealed her impressive score was ‘off the charts’.
He told the Guardian: ‘Our four children are neurodiverse, too. They have incredibly special attributes that they wear as superpowers. I’m in awe that I get to be their father.’
The couple share are parents to four children, Asher, 25, Caleb, 20, Penuel, 17 and Zoe, 13.
They key to making their 26-year-long marriage work, he says are ‘non-negotiables’ like never going to bed angry and not going longer than two weeks without seeing each other.
Jessica, 47, and David, 49, met in their teens at a summer theatre camp and later married in London in 1998. Pictured: the couple attended the Earthshot Prize at Alexandra Palace in 2021
‘We made the decision early on never to be apart for longer than two weeks: 26 years married and we’ve only broken that rule once, by 11 hours, when my wife was in Sleepy Hollow.’
He added: ‘Never let the sun go down on your wrath. We won’t go to bed if a disagreement isn’t resolved – sleep makes it grow like cancer.
‘Before you know it, you don’t remember why you were fighting, ego and pride becomes a factor, and then it starts to fall apart.’
The couple have worked together in Paramount+ series Lawmen: Bass Reeves and David’s latest work is Apple TV show Government Cheese.
