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Whoa.
By Olivia Jakiel — Written on Nov 12, 2020
Celebrities are often the subjects of wild conspiracy theories, and British actor Benedict Cumberbatch is no exception.
While it’s a well known fact that Benedict Cumberbatch married Sophie Hunter in 2015 and that the pair have children together, one Tumblr user, who goes by the username gatorfisch, actively uses her blog to try and dispute those facts.
In fact, when you search her Tumblr page for “Benedict Cumberbatch,” nearly 5200 entries come up, which is jarring in and of itself.
One theory in the Cumberbatch nebula that is her blog alleges that Cumberbatch and Hunter don’t actually have a third child, and that their marriage is just a PR stunt — and her blog isn’t the only one to suggest these wild theories.
Does Benedict Cumberbatch have a third child, and is his marriage a PR stunt?
Here’s what you need to know about the wild conspiracy theory claiming that Benedict Cumberbatch’s third child, Finn, doesn’t actually exist, and that his marriage to Sophie Hunter is nothing but a PR stunt.
Sophie Hunter’s first pregnancy reveal raised eyebrows.
When Hunter revealed her first pregnancy at The Palm Springs International Film Festival in 2015, fans reportedly became concerned that the pair had arrived at the red carpet separately, and that Cumberbatch “looked surprised” to see that Hunter was pregnant.
“The look on his face... And the look on her face. I was like, Uh-oh. I was like, Oh, somebody’s trying to trap him,” Patty, the woman who runs the tumblr blog under the username gatorfisch, said in an interview.
That’s when I stopped just being a bystander and started making posts,” she added.
Sophie Hunter and Benedict Cumberbatch got married the following month.
Benedict Cumberbatch and Sophie Hunter got married on February 14, 2015, and despite being in what seems like a happy — albeit, very private — marriage, other blogs refer to their relationship as a “showmance.”
It’s confirmed that Cumberbatch and Hunter have two children.
Sophie Hunter gave birth to their first child, Christopher “Kit” Carlton Cumberbatch in 2015, and their second child, Hal Auden Cumberbatch in March of 2017.
It was reported that Sophie Hunter was pregnant with their third child in 2018.
Hunter debuted her baby bump on the 2018 Emmys red carpet alongside Cumberbatch; however, there were no reports of her pregnancy after that, and the couple’s third child, whose name is reportedly Finn, has not been seen to this day.
A celebrity blogger and entertainment lawyer who goes by Enty and runs one of Hollywood’s juiciest gossip sites also expressed their doubts about Cumberbatch’s third child.
“There’s supposedly this third kid named Finn, born in 2019, and nobody has ever seen the child,” they said.
Fans claim Cumberbatch — as well as the media — keeps flip-flopping on the number of kids he has.
One Tumblr user pointed out that Cumberbatch had slipped up during an interview in Sept. shortly after Hunter’s pregnancy reveal.
“Interviewer says: ‘So, you have a son…’ His answer: ‘Yeah… I have 3.. well, 2 and one on the way… but I actually don’t want to discuss that on the radio,’” the user wrote.
You can listen to the interview and fast forward to the 13-minute mark for Cumberbatch’s response by clicking here.
Fast forward to May 26, 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic. Enty posted a blind item they received, which read:
“Yesterday, we were at two children for the foreign born A list dual threat actor. Today? We are back to three children for the first time since the lock down. Could someone just please ask him.”
They’re referring to a Daily Mail article that was published on May 25, and some fans allege that the outlet changed their narrative in the article about Cumberbatch.
“DM is catching up. And also only TWO kids mentioned,” one Tumblr user alleged.
“One day later DM changes the narrative: ‘The actor is isolating with his wife Sophie Hunter and his three children as well as his parents who are in their 80s,’” they added.
Cumberbatch has repeatedly refuted these claims over the years.
In fact, he flat out said, “There are people who believe that my wife is a PR stunt and that my child is a PR stunt.”
"I think really it's to do with the idea that the internet's boyfriend can't actually belong to anyone else but the internet,” he explained. “It's impossible he belongs to anyone but me. And that's what stalking is. That's what obsessive, deluded, really scary behaviour is."
Still, Cumberbatch’s biggest skeptics refuse to believe him.
“I get it. I completely and utterly get it,” Patty said of the theories about Sophie Hunter and Benedict Cumberbatch — some of which she helped perpetuate. “We don’t have the proof to truly out — Oh, there’s no kid — and I get that.”
“But I think there’s enough out there to show why we’re questioning it,” she added.
Olivia Jakiel is an editor and writer who covers celebrity and entertainment news. Follow her on Instagram and keep up with her zingers on Twitter.