Actress Minnie Driver has confirmed reports she is expecting her first child during an interview on US televsion.The Good Will Hunting star sparked rumours of a pregnancy after she was photographed leaving a Los Angeles clinic last month.

The 38-year-old was forced to admit the news on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Thursday night after Leno commented she had gained weight.Asked by the host if she was pregnant, Driver replied, “Yes, I am”.

The star told Leno she loves being pregnant, “more than anything else,” but did not like morning sickness.She adds, “I don’t know why they call it morning sickness. I am sick morning, noon and night, but it’s a fair trade-off.”

Driver did not say who the father was. However, she did say she is desperate for a baby girl - because her unusual surname would be awful for a boy.

Driver followed the announcement on the Jay Leno show with an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, scheduled to air next week, telling the presenter how friends have been offering unhelpful suggestions for motor vehicle-influenced names.

The 38-year-old says, “I have a pretty silly name. Driver is kind of a hard name to put with a first name, particularly boys names. My friend sent me an email saying I should call the baby Duncan Driver. Then I can call it Dunk Driver, Pile Driver, Rally Driver”.

In the past, Driver has been linked with co-stars such as John Cusack, Josh Brolin and Matt Damon. In fact, she was engaged to Brolin, but the pair broke up all of a sudden in 2001.

In fact, she has admitted that one of the reasons Brolin and she broke up was because of her difficult relationship with his step-mother and singer Barbara Streisand.