In September 2017, Us Weekly confirmed that the Kylie Cosmetics founder was expecting her first child with then-boyfriend Travis Scott, but she never publicly confirmed or denied the news until Stormi arrived on February 1, 2018.

“I’m sorry for keeping you in the dark through all the assumptions. I understand you’re used to me bringing you along on all my journeys,” the beauty mogul wrote via Instagram at the time, announcing the birth. “My pregnancy was one I chose not to do in front of the world. I knew for myself I needed to prepare for this role of a lifetime in the most positive, stress free, and healthy way I knew how.”

Jenner may have kept her impending motherhood to herself, but that didn’t stop fans from analyzing her every move for clues — or making out-there connections. One popular conspiracy theory was that the Life of Kylie alum was actually a surrogate for Kim Kardashian, who was expecting her third child with Kanye West at the same time.

The Selfish author later shut that rumor down, though, confirming in January 2018 that she and West used an agency to find a gestational carrier. The reality star suffered complications during her previous two pregnancies, including preeclampsia and placenta accreta.

Jenner, meanwhile, kept quiet, and didn’t even resurface for the Kardashian-Jenner Christmas card. Three years after Stormi’s birth, the makeup maven explained why she felt the need to hide her pregnancy from the world.

“I shared so much of my life,” she told Andy Cohen during the Keeping Up With the Kardashians reunion in June 2021. “I was also really young when I got pregnant and it was just a lot for me, personally. I didn’t know how I would bring that to the public, too. I think it was just something I needed to go through by myself.”

Her sister Kendall Jenner credited Kylie with making a decision that was right for her, adding that she thought the low-key pregnancy was probably more healthy for Stormi.

“This is obviously a theory — I’ve never been pregnant, and I’m sure there’s studies on this — but I think that the more at peace you are when you are pregnant, that goes into your child,” the supermodel told Cohen. “I think it’s a reflection of even her daughter today, and how amazing and beautiful she is, is just because Kylie was so at peace in her pregnancy. I really do think it was the best decision.”

Keep scrolling for a look back at Jenner’s top-secret first pregnancy:

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This story originally appeared on: US Magazine - Author:Eliza Thompson