Hollywood actress Hilary Swank is expecting her third child at the age of 52, sharing the news with fans through a joyful and creative video posted to Instagram this week. The announcement featured the two-time Oscar winner alongside her husband, Philip Schneider, and their three-year-old twins, Aya and Ohm, and confirmed the new baby is due in December.

The announcement: glow sticks and a growing bump

The video showed the family dancing together in a darkened room with glow sticks taped to their bodies, creating glowing silhouettes as they moved. The reveal came when Swank turned to show a glow-stick baby shape illuminated on her stomach, making the moment both visually striking and unmistakably clear.

Playing on her professional identity, Swank kept her Instagram caption characteristically tongue-in-cheek. "A lot of people have been asking what project I'm doing next, this one releases in December," she wrote, framing her pregnancy announcement as a career update.

The reveal comes more than three years after Swank and Schneider welcomed their twins in April 2023. The couple first met on a blind date in 2014 and married in 2018.

A teaser had already sparked speculation

Swank had offered a hint of what was coming in the days before the announcement, sharing a photo of herself with a visible baby bump as part of a partnership with a United States organic nappy brand. However, that image was later clarified to have been taken during her twin pregnancy in 2023, meaning it did not actually confirm a new pregnancy at the time.

Swank on motherhood later in life

The actress has previously spoken openly about what it has meant to become a mother in her late 40s, describing the experience as something she feels better prepared for now than she would have been in her younger years.

"I was 47 when I got pregnant, and I feel like I have a lot more patience, and I've done a lot of my own personal work to be the type of mother I want to be, whereas it would've just been different in my 20s and 30s," she said in a 2024 interview with an American entertainment publication. She added that a deeper self-awareness had allowed her to shift her focus away from her career and toward her family in a way that felt right.

Swank acknowledged that her earlier years were heavily dedicated to building her professional life, which she sees as having shaped who she is as a parent today.

Part of a broader trend among celebrity mothers

Swank joins a growing number of high-profile women who have announced pregnancies later in life. In July, actress Natalie Portman shared photographs of her baby bump after confirming in April that she was expecting her third child. Portman described the experience as both a joy and a privilege, while also acknowledging that pregnancy is not always straightforward for women in their 40s.

Perth-born actress Melissa George, 49, recently revealed she had welcomed her fourth son, having become a mother for the third time at age 47. Actress Anne Hathaway, 43, announced in June that she was expecting her third child with husband Adam Shulman, posting a video to social media captioned "Baby, I'm yours." Hathaway has been candid in the past about her own fertility struggles, writing during a previous pregnancy about the challenges faced by those going through "infertility and conception hell."

Notably, none of the women involved in these recent announcements has publicly disclosed whether fertility treatment played any role in their pregnancies. Fertility specialists have previously cautioned that celebrity pregnancy announcements, while potentially inspiring, may not reflect the full picture of what it takes to conceive later in life.

For Swank, however, the focus for now appears firmly on celebration, with a growing family and a new arrival due before the year is out.