Jessica Biel became a mom for the second time last year and says she had to go back to basics when it came to taking care of a baby.
Biel and husband Justin Timberlake welcomed son Phineas in 2020 during the pandemic when many people weren’t even aware she was pregnant.
“That was an accident. I mean, the not knowing part. It was not on purpose,” she said Monday on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna. “Everything sort of happened and we left town and we never returned, and then we had this beautiful baby. It was totally bizarre and (a) somewhat wonderful, kind of private experience.”
Back in June, Biel, who stars in and produces USA's "The Sinner," which comes back for its fourth season next month, had talked about the baby's surprise arrival.
“I had, like, a secret COVID baby,” she said on Dax Shepard's "Armchair Expert" podcast in June.
“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,” she added.
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Biel and Timberlake have an older son, Silas, 6, and as the actor explained on the fourth hour of TODAY, she had to relearn some of the basics of parenting a baby.
“Oh, yes,” she said. “I remember going, ‘When does he eat real food? What kind of cream? What bathtub?’ I felt like I forgot — it was amnesia. I started from scratch all over again, and I didn’t expect that. I just sort of thought, ‘Well, I’m an expert now. You know, I’ve done this before, and I can do it again.’ No, I needed a full education all over again.”
Fortunately for Biel and Timberlake, Silas amuses Phineas, who thinks his older brother is the cat’s meow.
“He thinks Phineas the baby is hilarious,” Biel said about her older son. “He also is starting to get irritated about him snatching his toys. We’re in that mode.
"But, he finds him really funny, and the baby thinks that Silas has hung the moon. So, that’s really cute. He, of course, wants to do everything that his older brother’s doing and follows him around everywhere. But Silas is the best big brother. He’s so sweet, and he’s just a lovely guy. We’re pretty lucky. They’re sweet boys.”
Her evaluation echoes comments she made about her boys back in April.
“It is so cute to see these two together because they both think the other one is hilarious,” she said on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
“Silas, he is the performer, he wants to make the jokes and he wants all the attention on him, so Phin only has eyes for him. And everything Silas does is hilarious, and then anything Phin does is hilarious. So they just laugh at each other all day long. It is so cute.”
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