Lucille Ball reportedly found out about her pregnancy during radio broadcast according to Desi Arnaz biography

Legendary comedic Lucille Ball has now been revealed to have learned about her own pregnancy from a radio broadcast, according to People Magazine. This latest revelation was published in the book Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television, written by journalist Todd S. Purdum, a senior writer at POLITICO.

The book chronicles the life of celebrated actor Desi Arnaz, who was married to Lucille Ball for twenty years before their divorce in 1960. The couple, whose married life was subject to much media scrutiny, had two children during the course of their marriage.

More about Lucille Ball's pregnancy announcement, as biographer reveals a previously unknown detail

In the book, author Todd S. Purdum writes about how Lucille Ball was forced to discover about her pregnancy while on tour with her husband, Desi Arnaz. In the excerpts obtained by People Magazine, Purdum states that the radio broadcast announcer was tipped off by a person who was working at the clinic where Lucille Ball had gone for her examination. It reads:

"In June 1950, during the New York run of their vaudeville show, Lucy was relaxing in her dressing room between shows listening to Walter Winchell’s radio broadcast when she heard him announce she was 'infanticipating,' the columnist’s lingo for 'pregnant.' He’d been tipped off by a medical lab informant before the Arnazes themselves had learned the news."

The book further adds that because of the suddenness of the announcement, the couple took a break from their lengthy tour, but later Lucille Ball suffered the first of her two miscarriages. Soon after this, the Emmy Award-winning comedian underwent a procedure, after which she was able to carry her pregnancy to full term.

In 1951, she and her husband, Desi Arnaz, welcomed their first child, Lucie Désirée Arnaz. In the book, Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television, the author mentions how Lucille Ball had picked out a certain name for her daughter, but it was changed by her husband without consulting her. He wrote:

"Thrilled to be a mother at last, Lucy asked to see the newborn the moment her anesthesia wore off. 'I want to see Susan!' she told the nurse, using the name she believed that she and Desi had agreed on if the baby was a girl, after Lucy’s good friend, the young actress Susan Peters, who had been paralyzed from the waist down in a duck-shooting accident. 'You mean Lucie?' the nurse replied."

The book further added:

"Without consulting her, Desi had already written Lucie Desiree on the birth certificate, naming the little girl for her mother and maternal grandmother. Lucy was surprised but didn’t make a fuss. The name was, after all, a compliment she could hardly resist."

Two years later, in 1953, Lucille Ball welcomed her second child, Desi Arnaz Jr., whose birth coincided with the moment Lucille Ball's iconic character, Lucy Ricardo, who appeared on the five-time Emmy Award-winning show, I Love Lucy, also gave birth to her son.

In the book, Lucie Désirée Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. also sat down for an interview, where they talked about their parents' unique methods of disciplining them. Lucie said:

"He [Desi Arnaz] would get really angry and blow his stack, and be loud, but then he’d be done and it would be like it never happened."

On the other hand, Lucille Ball was very different in her approach. Her daughter said:

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"She would get personally offended by childhood behavior or what you said, because you should have known not to say that somehow, even though no one’s taught you what to say. And she would emotionally separate from you for however long she wanted to. And it would be sometimes days, sometimes weeks."

The book, Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television, which chronicles the life of Desi Arnaz and also focuses on his relationship and eventual marriage with actress Lucille Ball, is now available to purchase.

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