Halle Bailey revealed why she decided to keep her pregnancy a secret, after recently announcing the birth of her baby boy.

The actress, 23, shocked fans at the beginning of the year when she shared that she and rapper boyfriend DDG, 26, welcomed son Halo sometime in 2023.

In a recent Q&A on Snapchat, Halle spoke about why she decided to keep the pregnancy secret, despite fans speculating about it.

‘I just wanted to make sure I had a beautiful and private healthy time in my journey, ‘ she shared.

‘I feel like sometimes as people in the limelight, people feel like they want to know every little thing about their life, but I think it’s really beautiful if you keep some things private and sacred.’

Someone also asked if the fan speculation about her pregnancy was stressful.

‘I mean, it was a little bit [stressful], but honestly, I stayed off all social media,’ she said.

‘I really tried to, just to keep myself sane and okay.’

As for those commenting that they knew about the pregnancy, she replied: ‘I’d be like, it’s great that you know, but I’m just going to chill. That’s wonderful if you support me, and if not, that’s okay too. I hope you have a wonderful life.’

Meanwhile on Wednesday Halle also reshared a clip from her sister Chloe’s TikTok to her Instagram Stories, which showed them dancing during her pregnancy.

Halle bared her bump in a black sports bra and grey sweatpants.

It comes two days after Halle shared the first images of her baby bump in an underwater photoshoot.

Halle took to her Instagram to share a behind-the-scenes video of her doing a pregnancy photoshoot, inspired by her famous role in The Little Mermaid.

She displayed her baby bump in several floaty dresses and a metallic silver crop top with a matching skirt, while posing underwater.

The singer gracefully spun around in the pool and cradled her growing tummy for the ethereal shots, reminiscent of her role as Ariel.

Captioning the clip, Halle admitted: ‘missing my belly already but i obviously had to do underwater pics’.

Rumours had been swirling for months that Halle and her boyfriend DDG (born Darryl Dwayne Granberry Jr.) were expecting a baby, but both of them dismissed the speculation.

However, in the first week of the New Year, Halle revealed she had welcomed a baby, with a photo of her holding her son’s tiny hand as he wore a gold bracelet with his name engraved on it.

Alongside the heart-melting snap, she wrote: ‘even though we’re a few days into the new year, the greatest thing that 2023 could have done for me, was bring me my son.. welcome to the world my halo ✨the world is desperate to know you’.

The couple kept Halle’s pregnancy private, despite rising speculation they were due to become parents.

In September last year, Halle found herself trailed by a persistent stream of conjecture that she was expecting a baby.

The rumors spiraled out of control in October when she was spotted wearing a noticeably baggy hoodie while out with DDG in Santa Monica.

Pouring fuel on the fire, she posted a bikini album in November in which she assiduously faced away from the camera in every shot.

The online chatter grew so intense that Halle exasperatedly responded, firing back at claims she had a ‘pregnancy nose.’

She fumed: ‘If I see one more person say something about my nose one more time, it’s gonna be hell to pay. And you know why? ‘Cause I am black. I love my nose.’

Meanwhile, as recently as New Year’s Eve, DDG denied that he secretly had a daughter and told fans prying into his private life to ‘mind your business.’

He conducted a Q&A on Snapchat and when a fan asked: ‘Do you have a daughter?’ he flatly replied: ‘No.’

He expressed his bemusement that his and Halle’s fans were ‘so invested in what I got going on or what we got going on.’

The rapper added: ‘Like, bro, mind your business. Like, go outside, touch some grass, bro.’

In September, Halle revealed that her romance with DDG is the ‘first time’ she has ever genuinely been in love.

Speaking to Cosmopolitan, she gushed: ‘You know, you have puppy love experiences, you think that’s love. But this is my first deep, deep, real love.’

She added: ‘All musical inspiration really just comes from life experiences. Love has been a really big one for me too, because that’s something I’m experiencing for the first time, and it’s, like: “whoa” in your brain. It’s just fireworks, a spark for creativity.’

The pair were first linked at the start of 2022, and DDG confirmed their romance that March by posting a gushing Instagram tribute for Halle’s birthday.

In August of that year, Essence asked Halle whether she was in love with DDG and the pop singer replied: ‘Yes. For sure I am.’

Later in 2022, DDG appeared on The Breakfast Club, where he divulged that he was ‘eventually’ open to the prospect of popping the question to Halle.