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Toronto ‘Real Housewives’ woman alleges she was fired for being pregnant

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[Ariane Bellamar says she was fired from “The Real Housewives of Toronto” when her pregnancy got in the way of a planned shoot to Muskoka. PHOTO: Ariane Bellamar]

A reality TV star says she plans to file a complaint with the Ontario human rights tribunal against a production company, after alleging she was fired from “The Real Housewives of Toronto” show due to scheduling issues concerning her pregnancy.

Ariane Bellamar says she was hired on the production of “The Real Housewives of Toronto,” which began shooting earlier this month. Last week, Bellamar, who is due early August, was told by her doctor that the baby had dropped and would be arriving earlier than expected.

When she mentioned it to production the next day, she says they joked that she needed to keep the baby in place, particularly since the show had planned to shoot a trip to Muskoka cottage country. The trip was scheduled for the same week as Bellamar’s C-section.

“They started pressuring me to come and film and basically risk going into labour in an area I don’t know,” she tells Yahoo Canada News. “I’m also scheduled for a C-section and it’s not that simple.”

Despite texting with a talent producer on Friday, who didn’t mention any issues, Bellamar was sent an email later that evening from a law firm informing her she’d been terminated from the show.

“They knew I was making this move for the purpose of the show,” says Bellamar, who was located in Los Angeles before shooting began. “They pressured me to do things that weren’t comfortable in pregnancy. My nursery, which was supposed to be part of the plot, is still empty. Now I have to put my nursery together in a week.”

Vancouver-based Lark Productions Inc., which is behind the new series, did not respond to an interview request.

Bellamar, who has also starred on “Beverly Hills Nannies,” says she isn’t sure if she’ll be included in the series, despite her firing.

“It’s a human rights violation,” she says. “(Taking it to the human rights tribunal) is more important to me. First and foremost before litigations for any financial restitution is litigation to have them reprimanded for their bad behaviour on a human rights level.”

While some people might suspect the issue was orchestrated to boost interest in the show, Bellamar says that’s not the case.

“I think that’d be really brilliant but that’s not true,” she says. “The smartest thing Lark could do is say ‘we’ll renegotiate your contract, come back to work,’ and use the publicity that’s been garnered.”