Grávida De Taubaté

About

Grávida De Taubaté refers to a bizarre pregnancy hoax that gained media attention in Brazil in January 2012. Maria Verônica Vieira, better known as "Grávida de Taubaté" (Pregnant from Taubaté, in English), announced on television that she was expecting quadruplets. However, the impressive size of her belly was later revealed to be a yoga ball and the fake pregnancy became a meme on Facebook and other social media sites.

Origin

On January 11th, 2012, the Brazilian teacher Maria Verônica Aparecida César Santos became a conversation topic all over Brazil after she gave an interview for the program Hoje em Dia on the Record TV channel. In the interview, Maria Verônica said that she was in the eighth month of pregnancy and expecting four girls. The original video of the show was deleted by the network, but YouTube^[1] user @agravidadetaubate2303 uploaded a three-part series of videos on June 28th, 2022, showing the full interview (seen below).

Maria Verônica, who lived in a city called Taubaté in São Paulo, Brazil, received the nicknames "Grávida de Taubaté" (Pregnant [lady] from Taubaté] and "Supergrávida" (Superpregnant) for the enormous size of her pregnant belly (seen below). In addition to the interview given for Hoje em Dia, the show also collected some donations^[2] (furniture and baby items) for the supposed daughters. However, Brazilian journalist Chris Flores, one of the hosts of the program, was suspicious of Maria Verônica's pregnancy and asked the journalism staff of the show to investigate the case.

On January 20th, 2012, a press conference^[3] in Taubaté clarified that teacher Maria Verônica Aparecida César Santos was not pregnant. Her lawyer explained to the press that she even deceived her husband, using a silicone belly (yoga ball) with fabric filling. On January 21st, 2012, YouTube^[4] channel @ByNewsFacts posted the story behind the fake pregnancy, receiving 2 million views and 2,900 likes in 11 years (seen below).

Spread

After the fake pregnancy was revealed, Maria Verônica had to return all the gifts and donations she received and the case ended up in court.^[5] The news also became a subject of memes on the internet, like the parody video uploaded by YouTube^[5] user JonathanNemer on January 25, 2012, recreating the first interview Grávida de Taubaté gave for the program Hoje Em Dia. The video garnered 3.4 million views and 32,000 likes in 11 years (seen below).

The story of the fake pregnancy has continued to generate countless memes and jokes on the internet over the years. For instance, to celebrate 10 years of the meme, on January 11th, 2022, Brazilians went on to Twitter and other social media to share their favorite memes about the Grávida de Taubaté. Twitter^[7] user @luscas shared a GIF of the lady using a computer with the caption in Portuguese "Today is the ten-year anniversary of the appearance of the pregnant woman from Taubate." The post garnered 18,200 likes and 2,419 retweets in a year (seen below).

hoje é aniversário de dez anos do surgimento da grávida de taubate https://t.co/O526pvPZ0w pic.twitter.com/aVm1uA6WcM

— luscas (@luscas) January 11, 2022

Another Twitter^[8] user, @falaruthinha, also celebrated the 10th anniversary of the meme by sharing a Gretchen GIF holding a birthday cake and the caption in Portuguese, "There are few memes that survive for 10 years and still become part of the culture of a people. A historic day that will never be forgotten!" The post received 593 likes and 21 retweets in a year (seen below).

São poucos os memes que sobrevivem por 10 anos e ainda viram parte da cultura de um povo. Dia histórico que nunca será esquecido! pic.twitter.com/FNOyofy3nb

— iludida🔴⚫ᶜʳᶠ (@falaruthinha) January 11, 2022

Grávida De Taubaté Cosplay

A month later of the fake pregnancy reveal, during the Brazilian Carnival in February 2012, multiple news outlets^[9] shared that the most popular Carnival costume found in the streets was "Grávida de Taubaté" lookalikes. Facebook^[10] page @UOL posted a Brazilian wearing the costume on February 15th, 2012, garnering 204 likes and 182 shares in 11 years (seen below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References