Elle Fanning reveals that wearing a prosthetic baby bump made her want to get pregnant

Elle Fanning has revealed that wearing a prosthetic baby bump while filming Catherine the Great made her “want to be pregnant” – reflecting on the series while stunning for May’s Harper’s Bazaar.

The 24-year-old actress will reprise her role as Catherine II of Russia in the third series set in the 18th century, with the latest 10-episode season set to premiere May 12 on Hulu.

For a time in series two, her character was pregnant and Elle has been open about what it was like taking on the role — saying she’s “obsessed” with her fake belly and boobs.

She told the publication: “I became obsessed with it. I had a tailored stomach with breasts that were molded to me and reached to my neck.

“The costume team told me that my body will look pretty much exactly like this when I’m pregnant…which felt pretty crazy. I loved how it looked. It made me do it, being pregnant!’

Elle looked stunning in a range of pretty dresses while posing in a grand house and spring garden for the glossy magazine’s ‘Fairytale’ shoot.

Elle and her co-star Nicholas Holt will return for the third season of the satirical comedy.

There will be plenty of palace intrigue as Peter (Hoult) tries to make his marriage to Catherine (Fanning) work after she tried to have him killed at the end of last season.

Meanwhile, Catherine is inspired to reform her country after receiving a visit from the ambassador of the newly independent United States.

The new season of The Great, created and written by Tony McNamara, also stars Belinda Bromilow (Packed to the Rafters), Phoebe Fox (The Aeronauts) and Adam Godley (Breaking Bad).

Both Fanning and Hoult, 33, were nominated for Emmys in 2022 for their performances in The Great.

As she prepared for her role on the series, she told Harper’s Bazaar, “Before I followed in her footsteps, the only thing I knew about Catherine the Great was the rumor that she had sex with a horse — which turned out to be.” actually feels like one of the earliest forms of slut shaming.

“So I wanted to reclaim her name a little bit — to highlight how progressive she was in science and women’s education, an engine behind the Russian Enlightenment, and separating church and state.”

“I keep hearing, ‘Catherine the Great? What an asshole!’ But I don’t know how accurate that is. She takes risks, but she has to pull herself together.

“She’s powerful, but not always the most powerful person in the room. She can be both scheming and naive. She is a girl and a woman.”

Explaining her maturation as a person playing the role, she continued, “I played Catherine during such formative years of my life. I have grown as a woman by her side.”

She also chatted about pushing herself to experiment with a comic book genre in The Great – and said she was “scared” when the project started.

“I hadn’t really done much [comedy], and was very anxious at first. But I’m not ashamed anymore: you just have to try, no matter how outrageous something is. It’s a very specific style that takes some getting used to.

“We walk a very thin line between tragedy and laughter,” she said.

The ensemble cast includes Gwilym Lee (Bohemian Rhapsody), Charity Wakefield (Wolf Hall), Douglas Hodge (Joker), and Sacha Dhawan and Bayo Gbadamosi (Doctor Who).

Elle rose to fame as a child actress in films such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and later gained recognition for the controversial series The Girl from Plainville.

She is in a relationship with actor Max Minghella. The four-year-old couple were first linked after meeting on the set of the 2018 film Teen Spirit.

All episodes of seasons one and two of The Great are available to stream on Stan. Season three premieres May 13, only on Stan.

The May issue of Harper’s Bazaar UK will be available from April 6th.