'Orange Is The New Black' Star Danielle Brooks Is Pregnant With Her First Child

It's always exciting to find out one of your favorite stars is pregnant, I'm not sure why exactly. I guess if you end up watching a show for several seasons you get attached to the characters and the people who play them. So when they have good news, it can feel like your good news. Which means you'll be pretty happy to find out that, on Tuesday, Orange Is The New Black star Danielle Brooks announced she's pregnant with her first child. And even more exciting news? The actress has also revealed how far along she is in her pregnancy.

Fans of the massively popular Netflix series Orange Is The New Black will recognize Brooks as the character Taystee on the series. She was cast in the first season but became such a standout, with The Daily Beast referring to her as the "Breakout star of 2013," that she was written in to all six subsequent seasons. Because Brooks is a woman who does things her own way; and so it was with her pregnancy announcement.

"So elated to finally share this news with you all. I’m happily pregnant!" she captioned a photo of herself holding a positive pregnancy test shared on Instagram. The real kicker? She is already five months along.

As Brooks wrote on her Instagram Story on Tuesday, "When one chapter ends, another begins. Super excited to share with you my new beginning. I’M PREGNANT. Counting my blessings! 5 months in!”

Celebrities like Chrissy Metz, Octavia Spencer, and Orange Is The New Black co-star Natasha Lyonne shared their congratulations with the expectant mom on her Instagram feed. Hamilton actress Jasmine Cephas Jones wrote, "AAAAHHHHHHHH IM SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!!!!!" which seemed to sum up the general feeling quite nicely.

The 30-year-old Georgia native and Broadway star has kept her relationship with her boyfriend private, to the point where she has yet to share his name on social media, according to Essence, but he has shown up on her Instagram feed over the past year looking happy and, more importantly, seriously smitten with Brooks. And presumably pretty excited to be welcoming a new child as well.

Brooks has been open in the past about wanting to share her love with as many people she can, so it makes so much sense to see her overjoyed to become a mother. In 2017, she wrote a letter to her 15-year-old self for Refinery 29 on the subject of love and body image:

You are different, Danielle. You are not an ordinary 15-year-old, and that is okay. That doesn’t make you better or less than anyone. But what you must not do is dim your light.You have a lot of love to give and believe it or not, it is not as easily accessible for others to give the same. People have a lot of hang ups that will make them guarded, but continue to operate out of love. It will always win.

This seems like pretty sound advice Brooks is ready to offer her own child when the day comes. Which will be pretty soon considering she is already five months pregnant. This will be one lucky little baby.