Aug 31, 2011 11:48 GMT  ·  By

Beyonce pulled a fast one on her fans and the press. At Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards 2011, the singer announced that she and husband Jay-Z were expecting their first child together, which even generated some conspiracy theories. They’re all explained now.

Shortly after Beyonce walked the red carpet at the awards show, proudly showing off her baby bump, E! Online went digging for clues.

One of the strongest argument for conspiracy theorists was that she couldn’t have had such a prominent tummy when, less than 10 days before, she didn’t have a baby bump at all – therefore, she was probably using a fake baby bump.

The aforementioned e-zine can prove said argument is null: Beyonce knew how to play the media in such a way as to have it know of her pregnancy precisely when she felt she was ready to break the news in front of the cameras.

Beyonce didn’t employ scare or censorship tactics to prevent the press from speaking of her pregnancy; she simply made sure no one had a clue about it until she was ready to share the happy news with the world.

“One tactic was in place before she even got pregnant: geography. Most paparazzi are concentrated in Los Angeles. And that’s not a big hangout for Beyonce,” E! writes.

One paparazzo from Fame Pictures says tracking down the singer and sending someone to take her picture is simply not that profitable – so they choose not to do it in the first place.

This allowed Beyonce to keep word of her pregnancy emerging in the tabloids. Then, she made sure she had almost full control of whatever coverage she got.

“She’s been shot more during concerts rather that out and about in public, which, in turn, allowed Beyonce to have more control over lighting and angles. Heck, she could even dictate exactly where concert photographers could shoot her if she needed to, and then never turn quite all the way,” E! says.

Last but not least, Beyonce did subtle changes to her clothes, opting for garments that cleverly hid her baby bump from prying eyes.

Word has it that she’s now almost 4 months along and that she and Jay-Z are hoping for a baby boy.