Jessica Biel didn't intend to keep second pregnancy a secret

Jessica Biel never intended to keep her second pregnancy a "secret", insisting it only worked out that way because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Sinner actress quietly welcomed son Phineas with her husband Justin Timberlake in July 2020, but the couple didn't confirm the news until January, when the pop superstar told U.S. talk show host Ellen DeGeneres they "couldn't be happier" at the latest addition to their family.

Now Biel has opened up about becoming a mother-of-two during the troubled time, admitting the only reason her pregnancy didn't hit headlines earlier was because they had left Los Angeles for an extended vacation.

"I had, like, a secret Covid baby," she shared on Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast. "It wasn't like it was supposed to be a secret. It was just, Covid happened, and then I went to Montana with my family and never left."

Biel went on to share her experience of childbirth at the height of the Covid crisis, revealing she initially feared she would have to deliver her baby alone due to hospital restrictions on visitors.

"There was a moment where there was nobody allowed (in the delivery room) at all, and I was really getting nervous about that situation," she said. "But yes, he was allowed. I think if I had to be there alone, that would have been horrible. I would have been really scared."

Little Phineas joins big brother Silas, six, and Biel confesses she is still trying to find a happy medium between work and family life.

"(The) balance of everything is very different and super hard," she acknowledged.

"Someone said to me, 'Two is like having a thousand.' And that's exactly what it feels like."

However, Biel loves being part of a family of four, and has particularly enjoyed witnessing her boys develop their own personalities during the 2020 shutdown.

"It's so interesting. It's so funny," she smiled. "The conversations I'm having now with my six-year-old is so cool (sic). Like, he's a real person saying the funniest stuff and he's so sensitive and tender. It's just so interesting to see that part of it happen, and the little one is just cute as hell."