--- description: The "Americanah" author and speaker revealed that she had a baby...but that's all she wants you to know. title: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Had a Baby and None of Us Knew image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa01381254012fc6/69889ac0cd1bba29827015fc/chimamanda-adichie-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [motto](/tag/motto/) ## motto Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Had a Baby and None of Us Knew by [Jessie Van Amburg](/author/jessie-van-amburg/) ## Jessie Van Amburg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 5, 2016 10:20 PM CUT  Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie attends the Girls Write Now Awards honoring Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Pamela Paul and Juju Chang at Tribeca 360 on May 19, 2015 in New York City. Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie attends the Girls Write Now Awards honoring Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Pamela Paul and Juju Chang at Tribeca 360 on May 19, 2015 in New York City.Janette Pellegrini/Getty Images for Girls Write Now by [Jessie Van Amburg](/author/jessie-van-amburg/) ## Jessie Van Amburg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 5, 2016 10:20 PM CUT You won’t see any baby-grams on [Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie](http://motto.time.com/4385726/chimamanda-adichies-trump-fan-fiction/ "undefined")‘s social channels anytime soon. The author and[ feminist](http://time.com/3921492/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-graduation-commencement-wellesley/ "undefined") revealed in an interview with the [_Financial Times_](https://next.ft.com/content/cebd3e6c-3d17-11e6-8716-a4a71e8140b0 "undefined")that she has a daughter—and that’s all she really wants to say on the fact. She casually broached the subject over lunch with a reporter, declining a glass of wine because she was breastfeeding. “I have a lovely little girl so I feel like I haven’t slept … but it’s also just really lovely and strange,” she said, confirming the news after the writer asked if it was a scoop. The author said she kept the news even from some family and friends. “I just feel like we live in an age when women are supposed to perform pregnancy,” she said. “We don’t expect fathers to perform fatherhood.” She said she “went into hiding” for the duration of pregnancy to make sure the experience was as personal as possible. When asked about the baby’s name, Adichie said simply, “No, I won’t say.” Adichie has been making headlines recently for her Trump family “[fan fiction](http://motto.time.com/4385726/chimamanda-adichies-trump-fan-fiction/ "undefined"),” featured on the front page of the [New York _Times_ Book Review](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/books/review/melania-trump-in-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-short-story.html "undefined"). When asked about politics by the Fnancial Times, Adichie, who frequently visits the United States, said that she “adored” Obama and described Bernie Sanders as “your dishevelled, likeable uncle.” Read the full interview on the [Financial Times](https://next.ft.com/content/cebd3e6c-3d17-11e6-8716-a4a71e8140b0 "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4394064/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-baby-girl/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4394064/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-baby-girl/"},"headline":"Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Had a Baby and None of Us Knew","datePublished":"2016-07-05T22:20:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:02:52.730Z","description":"She says she didn't want to 'perform pregnancy'","url":"https://time.com/4394064/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-baby-girl/","keywords":["motto","News"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa01381254012fc6/69889ac0cd1bba29827015fc/chimamanda-adichie-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jessie Van Amburg","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jessie-van-amburg/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa01381254012fc6/69889ac0cd1bba29827015fc/chimamanda-adichie-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Girls Write Now Awards","caption":"Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie attends the Girls Write Now Awards honoring Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Pamela Paul and Juju Chang at Tribeca 360 on May 19, 2015 in New York City.","creditText":"Janette Pellegrini/Getty Images for Girls Write Now","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4394064/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-baby-girl/","name":"Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Had a Baby and None of Us Knew"}}]}] ```