Lea Salonga is seven weeks pregnant

THE award-winning actress Lea Salonga is seven weeks pregnant, her publicist announced Friday.

Salonga, who is married to Robert Charles Chein, a Singaporean, was told by her obstetrician of her condition last week but he had advised her not to make any official announcement and wait for further confirmation.

“It was during her last consultation with the OB this week when they heard the heartbeat of the baby for the first time,” the publicist Shirley Pizarro told The Times.

Pizzaro said Salonga would continue her professional commitments for the remainder of the year. She and her husband had just left for New York, where Salonga is set to headline a concert at the Carnegie Hall. The couple will return to Manila in November. She’s scheduled to star in a major concert in December.

Salonga, 34, married Chein in January 2004. This will be the couple’s first child. She first gained national prominence when she starred in a local production of the musical Annie in the early eighties. A decade later, she gained international stardom when she was chosen to play the title role in the blockbuster musical Miss Saigon, for which she won the Laurence Olivier and Antoinette Perry (Tony) awards for Best Actress in a Musical.