Betty Gilpin details 'wild' on-set experience in Netflix rom-com 'Office Romance'

Actor Betty Gilpin has revealed she was “kind of panicking” before filming a particularly unusual birth scene in her new romantic comedy Office Romance, starring Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein.

The Netflix film, now streaming, follows a workplace romance between coworkers operating under a strict no-relationships policy. 

Gilpin plays Sydney, a high-powered professional who spends much of the story heavily pregnant before unexpectedly going into labor in the office—delivering a baby on a desk in a chaotic, comedic sequence.

Speaking in an exclusive interview, Gilpin said the scene pushed her beyond anything she had previously experienced on camera.

“I had done birth scenes before,” she said, “but never with a literal prosthetic vagina before.” She added that before filming, she was “kind of panicking about it.”

Gilpin said her nerves eased once she arrived on set and began working alongside Lopez, whom she praised for her calm presence and experience as a mother of two. 

She said having Lopez at her side helped turn the moment into something more grounded and collaborative.

Drawing on her own experience as a mother of two young children, Gilpin said the scene also carried an emotional layer beneath its comedic tone.

The Jennifer Lopez co-star helped her reframe the sequence, she added, describing the experience as both “empowering and silly and fun.” 

Gilpin shares two daughters with husband Cosmo Pfeil, born in 2020 and 2024.

She explained that the scene also reflected, in a surreal way, the intensity of working parenthood.

“It just felt like this meta thing of what being a working parent sometimes feels like,” she said, describing a sense of exposure and emotional overwhelm layered into the comedy of the moment.

Gilpin added that filming the sequence felt particularly surreal given her personal life, noting the contrast between portraying childbirth on a corporate desk and returning home to her real-life routine as a mother.

Despite its unusual premise, she said the experience ultimately felt freeing, calling it “empowering and silly and fun,” while also acknowledging the absurdity of the moment being permanently captured on screen.

Office Romance, directed by Ol Parker and co-written by Brett Goldstein and Joe Kelly, also features Tony Hale, Amy Sedaris, and Edward James Olmos. It is now streaming on Netflix.