Though some may question his priorities, when it comes the birth of his fifth child and doing publicity for his blockbuster musical “Wicked,” Jon M. Chu can handle two things at the same time. This past Saturday, ahead of the film‘s Los Angeles premiere and amidst multiple guild and press screenings going on around town, Chu had another item added to his to-do list when his wife, Kristen Hodges, woke him to share that her water had just broken. At one such screening held at the Director’s Guild of America, Chu relayed the story to the crowd and moderator, Academy Award-nominated director Lee Daniels.
“Honestly, that is true, today’s our premiere in Downtown, so I had my whole family come and they’re all at this hotel, [my wife’s] family and my family. And we’re about to have our fifth child and we’ve done press for the last two days,” said Chu. “Last night we were here at like 10 o’clock at night, 10:30. At three in the morning, I get a little nudge from my wife. She’s like, I think my water broke. I mean, this is like a romantic comedy of the nineties or something where, like, I have my tux that’s all custom designed for the night. The whole cast is there. I can see the red carpet outside my window. I’m like, this is so beautiful. I waited years and years for this.”
Despite his wife being in the hospital delivery room at the time, waiting to give birth, Chu knew Daniels had travelled all the way from Palm Springs to moderate this Q&A and couldn’t miss out on speaking with him. Thankfully, Chu was able to find a short window to leave his wife without missing any major moment.
“I’m there at the hospital and that’s when I was like, I think we don’t know what’s gonna happen and when we’re there and I felt so bad because for Lee to do this is just such an honor and I know how much time it takes,” said Chu. “So then I asked her — she’s actually in early labor is what they told me about an hour and a half ago and we have to give her some medicine that lasts about three hours, so she can’t give birth for three hours — I was like, that’s a great window right now, babe, I’ll be right back. Is that ok? So I just put on whatever I have. I have my hospital sticker, I’m here.”
Though he was able to join the crowd at the DGA for a few minutes, unfortunately Chu had to miss the “Wicked” premiere. He did, however, send in a video message from the hospital that played in front of the audience at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion before the film began. Chu also managed to show up afterwards, seemingly after his and Hodge’s daughter, Stevie Sky Chu, had been born.
Additional reporting by Alison Foreman.
Universal Pictures releases “Wicked” in theaters on November 22.