Kristen Bell was shocked by this one weird body change when she got pregnant
Some weird things can happen to your body when you become pregnant. Your feet swell, you break-out like you’re in high school again, and as Kristen Bell found out, even the size of your taste buds are affected by pregnancy.
HelloGiggles caught up with Bell at the new flavor launch party for This Bar Saves Lives, a snack bar brand Bell co-founded that gives back to kids in need. The discussion turned to pregnancy, and that’s when Bell revealed that she was totally shocked when her taste buds went wonky while she was pregnant.
"Your taste buds physically grow when you're pregnant," the Good Place star told us. "They actually physically can grow. I had a tiger pattern on my tongue. To my OB, I'm like, 'Am I dying?' She was like, 'No, those are your taste buds. They've grown. They've actually doubled in size.'"
A lot of weird things can actually happen to your mouth and tongue during pregnancy. WomensHealth.org.au notes that some women experience “geographic tongue,” which is when the papillae, or the tiny pink-white bumps on the tongue’s surface, disappear. This causes smooth, irregular patches to pop up that kind of look like a map, hence the name.
If it’s any comfort to the actress, Bell is certainly not alone in the strange pregnancy tongue boat.
During the launch party, Bell talked about family, relationships, and most importantly, This Bar Saves Lives. She co-founded the brand with Ryan Devlin, Todd Grinnell, and Ravi Patel with the goal being to help people “eat well and do good,” as a recent press statement reads.
"I had always been a bit preoccupied with the idea that charity is wonderful but businesses can do better," Bell said. Devlin had just returned from a humanitarian trip and was telling Bell about the malnutrition he had seen. "It really sat with him and was sort of haunting him. He was like, 'Why is no one doing a one-for-one in the food space? Why are no companies doing a give-back in the food space?'"
So Devlin decided to start one for himself, and Bell quickly got on board.
Funnily enough, Kristen Bell discovered her taste buds were enlarged while they were testing recipes for This Bar Saves Lives. Perhaps that tiger tongue of hers helped shape the company.
