Oscar voters gave two statuettes to Katharine Hepburn ("Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," "The Lion in Winter") right after the death of her lover, Spencer Tracy. Nicole Kidman got one for being dumped by Tom Cruise, even though she really had only one big scene in a plastic nose in "The Hours," a film called the worst of the year by Time Magazine, Newsday, New York Daily News and the Fox News Channel.

"Catherine Zeta-Jones was very pregnant when she won her best supporting actress Oscar for 'Chicago,'" notes Tariq Khan, a news editor at NBC/MSNBC who I consider to be one of the shrewdest award gurus on the planet. "Meryl Streep was very pregnant when she won her best actress Oscar for 'Sophie's Choice.' She even dropped her speech on the way to the podium."

So let's not pooh-pooh totally the possibility that Gwen might benefit at the Grammys from having a bloated belly during the voting period. She's had a bit of a bimbo reputation in the past. Being married and a mommy might indeed make her more sympathetic to Grammy voters, who can be quite stodgy.

One of our forum posters brings up a past exception at the Grammys worth noting, however.

"It sure didn't help Vanessa Williams that year she had many, many nominations for 'Save the Best for Last' and she was extremely pregnant when she performed on the show," says "Shane." "And Williams had a far more questionable reputation with her history as a model, the Miss America scandal, etc. So, if the softening of an image couldn't help her garner votes, I doubt it will impact any Stefani votes."

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