Good news is on the horizon for famed actress Jurnee Smollett-Bell. The Underground star announced that she and her husband Josiah Bell are expecting their first bundle of joy together, People reports.
Her brother and Empire star, Jussie Smollett, posted a sentimental caption of the news on his Instagram account. “I remember mommy giving birth to you and now you’re about to have a baby of your own,” he wrote. “I love you so so so so much. This is the most blessed event in life and you & @josiahbell are built for it.”
A photo posted by Jussie Smollett (@jussiesmollett) on
This joyous news follows the success of WGN’s series, Underground, which depicts the lives of a group of slaves who seek to find their way to freedom despite the many obstacles and betrayals that they’ll face.
In an interview with VIBE, Jurnee described that Underground was more than just another slave narrative and that it pushed her and the other actors to new plateaus.
“Underground, I think, stretched us all as actors and helped us go past what we thought were our limits. Misha and Joe just gave us these scripts that surprised us every time. It’s just a project that made us want to grow as actors,” she said. “We would have to mentally prepare for certain scenes where there’s violence. But it’s not until you hear the crack of the whip, where you understand how devastating it is. But there was a time where I just balled and the cast surrounded me afterwards. I went home and called my mom honestly because I just didn’t know what to do with that emotion. But the beauty of this script is that we get to help bring these real characters to audiences and humanize them as best as we could.”