Anyone who grew up watching Teletubbies remembers the gigantic ‘Sun Baby’ that is shown at the beginning of every show (when the sun rises) and the end of the show (when the sun sets). Most of us have never thought about it, but the real-life baby that played the Sun Baby is now in her mid-20s.
Her name is Jessica Smith and she was, in fact, the baby that played the Sun Baby in Teletubbies – she was just nine months old when they cast her. If her being in her mid-20s doesn’t make you feel old, then maybe this will – she’s about to have a child of her own next year and will officially become a mother.
She took to her Instagram account on Tuesday (Oct. 10) and shared a photo of her ultrasound images – revealing that she’s expecting her first child with her longtime boyfriend, Ricky Latham. “When two becomes three,” she wrote in the caption. There you have it, the Sun Baby is having her own Sun Baby.
Nearly 10 years ago, none of us had any idea who the Sun Baby was. In fact, it wasn’t until 2014 that some people started claiming to be the Sun Baby – causing a bit of controversy because, well, there could only be one Sun Baby. When Jess caught wind of those imposters, she decided to put it to rest.
She posted a message on Facebook shortly after celebrating her 19th birthday and admitted that she ‘used to hide it’ but had gotten a lot of encouragement from her friends to come forward. Now that she had the confidence, she was ready to tell everyone the truth – “I am the sun from Teletubbies,” she wrote.
“When I was about 9 months old, my mum took me for a routine checkup at the local hospital. The midwife there had been contacted by a local production company who were looking for a smiley baby, and the midwife asked if my name, along with all the baby’s that way, could be submitted,” she explained.
So, she went through the audition process and made it on several short lists until they ‘finally picked one person – ME!’ She shared a photo of her initial message, a newspaper or magazine article that featured an interview with her parents, and a 1996 letter from Courtyard Productions saying Jess was short-listed.
Jess Smith Was the ‘Teletubbies’ Sun Baby for 4 Years
Jess Smith was just nine months old when she was cast as the Sun Baby in Teletubbies – a children's television show that first aired in 1997 and ran until 2001. Her face was used at the beginning and end of every episode – which is why everyone knows exactly what you’re talking about when you say Sun Baby.
“While recording, my dad held a teddy bear behind the camera to get me to laugh, and rolled a toy racing car to get me to look down at the camera, it obviously worked,” she wrote in her Facebook post in 2014. She might not have any memories of her time in front of the camera, but her parents most certainly do!
Jess Smith was making a lot of headlines in 2019 when a photo of herself with a baby on her lap went viral. Many people were quick to claim that the child was hers and that’s when the world started buzzing – the Teletubbies Sun Baby was having a baby of her own. Unfortunately, the baby wasn’t her child.
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It was the official Teletubbies Twitter account that came forward and clarified that it was a picture of Jess Smith with the new Sun Baby (from the 2015 revival of the show). While it wasn’t true back then, it’s true now and the Sun Baby is – finally and officially – expecting her first child. Don’t you feel old, now?
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