Issa Rae Says She Had to Shut Down Pregnancy Rumors to Her Own Family

Even Emmy-nominated TV creators sometimes have to tell their moms to stop listening to gossip.

Actor and comedian Issa Rae revealed in TODAY's first-ever digital cover story that she once had to shut down rumors that she was pregnant — to her own mom and sister.

"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?!’" Rae told TODAY.

Rae tracked the anatomy of a rumor, and how it made its way from an article to the group chat.

"(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 said.

In late March, the actor posted a now-deleted tweet to shut down the pregnancy rumors after she realized they had reached her own family. Now, Rae laughs at the memory, saying her mother's reaction to the gossip was what prompted her to publicly shut down the rumors.

"Let a b---- eat and be merry," Rae wrote in the tweet.

Rae is known for her quiet and private social media presence — which made her wedding announcement on Instagram all the more surprising. She married her longtime partner, Louis Diame, in a ceremony in the South of France in July 2021.

With just nine posts, Rae's Instagram present is spare, and limited mostly to promoting her professional projects (even the wedding photos are gone). The naturally private creator said she doesn't plan to change her approach to social media anytime soon.

“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,’” she said.

But if she ever decides to have a child, she said she's not sure what she would do.

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

That said, Rae does use Instagram for fun — but not in a way the public can witness. Yes, Rae has a finsta catered to one of her favorite interests.

"I’m a big food person! So I have a finsta dedicated to food. It’s like, not fire at all. I don’t follow anybody except for other food pages, and that’s like my happy place," Rae said.