Actress Atsuko Sakurai will soon become a mother. She is currently about six months pregnant, with the baby due at the end of July. Sakurai and her husband Hiroatsu Shimakawa, a producer at TV Asahi, have been married for almost four years.

Sakurai discovered she was pregnant at the end of last year. At the time, she had already been cast as a regular in the currently airing drama series "Tokumei Kakarichou Tadano Hitoshi 3." This Monday, she finished recording all of her scenes, so she began maternity leave the next day. She will only return to work on the 25th to attend a release event for the DVD box set of last year's drama series "Utsukushii Wana."