In January, best friends and Pen15 costars/producers/writers Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle had a delightful surprise for their followers. A few months after Erskine announced that she and the actor Michael Angarano, her fiancé, were expecting a baby, Konkle revealed that she too was pregnant with her fiancé, the writer and actor Alex Anfanger—and that she was already nine months along. Needless to say, a barrage of joyous headlines followed: “Maya Erskine And Anna Konkle From ‘PEN15’ Are Pregnant at the Same Time and It’s BFF Goals”; “BFFs Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine Pregnant With Future BFFs.” But what had long been kept a secret from the public was, within Erskine and Konkle’s innermost circle, already very old news.
“I found out at Michael’s parents house in late July,” Erskine says of her pregnancy. “I told Anna once I went to the doctor to confirm, so I think that was August.” Both deep in the throes of editing their show’s second season, which came out last fall, she and Konkle were already speaking every day (Erskine from her home in L.A.; Konkle from a cabin in a nearby mountain town). “I had told her that Michael and I were going to start trying,” Erskine continues, “and then told her in person, socially distanced at a park, and then told all our friends in the ocean as a wave overtook us—again, socially distanced at the beach. It was very dramatic.”
Naturally, Konkle was “super-thrilled” when she’d learned in the spring that her friend was thinking of having a baby. Little did she know, however, that she had recently become pregnant herself. “Alex and I conceived in April and found out in May,” Konkle says. “I was in Lake Arrowhead for the week, concentrating on editing, and my partner was in Los Angeles. There was snow on the ground where I was, and an hour away he was in 90-degree heat. I took the test on a whim, thinking I was paranoid. We celebrated through tears on FaceTime.”
Konkle’s daughter, Essie Wunderle Anfanger, was born earlier this year. “The middle name comes from my dad’s side of the family, in honor of him,” she explains. “The Wunderles were known to have strong, forward-thinking women. And my great-great-grandfather, also a Wunderle, went from selling sweets from a street cart to having a large factory where candy corn was invented. Hopefully she’ll appreciate the name instead of resenting us for giving her something difficult to spell.”
Although both women continued working through the end of 2020, they were grateful for the change of pace when plans to go immediately into production on season 3 of Pen15 were dashed. Pandemic anxiety aside, they needed the break. “In the beginning I was thriving—cooking new recipes, taking long walks, doing puzzles, playing this video game Overcooked, watching The Sopranos, old movies I’ve never seen, leaving Los Angeles on mini-road trips,” Erskine says. “But now I’m lucky if I don’t do takeout 5 days in a row watching 90 Day Fiancé, physically rolling from point A to point B. Point A is usually my couch, and point B is the freezer where I retrieve my ice cream.” (Not long after our interview, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Leon Frederick.)
“We live in an age of unhealthy productivity,” Konkle says. “I always have, like, nine to-do lists, so for a while I took the opportunity to stop. Eventually rest led to boredom, an incubator for ideas, and a memoir took form. Also, a new project for Amazon, and I’m producing other writers’ features, something I’m really excited about.” Yet she, too, points to 90 Day Fiancé as a needful diversion—“I’d like to thank 90 Day Fiancé for giving Alex a plethora of characters to impersonate and, in turn, hours of entertainment for me,” she says—and shouts out a whole raft of people (and objects) for helping to keep her sane this past year. “Pregnancy pillow for keeping me upright; you took up the entire bed. Stretch-mark oil—they still happened, but I’m pretty sure I’d have more. Alex for our marriage proposal, scored by that Neil Young record I love. Late discovery of the film Children of Men. Our dog, George. The Yin Yang Artipoppe carrier is the only way our baby will fall asleep; praise you. My mom, for helping us every week in our funky little pod. And of course Essie, for being our wild, tiny, new best friend. You graced us with you.”
In this story: hair, Kylee Heath; makeup, Molly Greenwald.