In the days leading up to little Blue Ivy's birth, Beyoncé and Jay-Z watchers were wondering when and where the couple would welcome their first child into the world. With sightings of a still-pregnant Queen B out and about in New York City, it seemed that it could happen at any given moment.
The rumor mill was in overdrive just as Blue Ivy was born over the weekend — not that it hadn't been spinning wildly since Beyoncé and Jay-Z announced the pregnancy at the VMAs in August.
"There were so many rumors leading up, in general, surrounding her pregnancy from the moment that there was a rumor that she was pregnant. Then, once she was pregnant, we saw over the last week multiple reports, and obviously the early ones are erroneous, that she had given birth," said David Caplan, who has worked at celeb magazines like Star and People. "So there was a lot of buildup to her finally giving birth. There was also a degree of suspicion, because there were so many erroneous reports out there. You had to wait a little bit to see what the conversation would be."
Jay and B have yet to talk about their daughter's birth, leaving the confirmations to their friends and family on Twitter. That level of privacy has been key to not only this past weekend's birth, but Beyonceé and Jay-Z's relationship in general.
"All those rumors that swirled around, that's because she won't play that game," HuffPost celebrity columnist Rob Shuter said. "I think that's because she kept it so private, because she has not spoken about this. She won't address the rumors, and I think that when you're that private and the public is that passionate, that's when rumors often start."
The couple reportedly paid more than $1 million to have privacy at NYC's Lenox Hill Hospital. According to some reports, the couple requested so much privacy that some parents were prevented from seeing their own newborns. But the experts said that level of isolation is nothing new for celebrities.
"It's very common for celebrities to sneak in and out of hospitals," Caplan said. "It's actually very easy for celebrities to sneak in and out. There's multiple doors in and out. They use decoys. There'll be someone who looks like a celebrity. You go at different times of the night. Hospitals are also, at the same time, hotbeds of activity, so it's not like you're going somewhere really quiet."
"This was a very carefully arranged, organized hospital visit. Nothing was left to chance," Shuter added. "I suspect the conversations between her security team and officials with the hospital [went on] for several weeks. Working with big celebrities myself, these moments are very, very carefully choreographed. Not only because they want to protect their privacy, they also don't want to have a dangerous scene on their hands. Hospitals in New York and L.A. especially, where a lot of celebrities live, has people on staff that are there to make sure these things work very carefully and in a very private matter."
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