Maggie Gyllenhaal had an early taste of what it's like to be a celebrity new mom when members of the paparazzi reported a fake fire at the actress' apartment block - just so she'd come out into the street with her baby.

The Secretary star still can't believe the lengths some people will go to just to get a photograph, but the early morning fire alarm was the lowest blow for her.

She says, "The paparazzi were just really awful to us. I mean, they called the fire department and told them there was a fire in our little, tiny building in the West Village (New York) so that we would have to come outside with a five-day-old baby."

The bogus fire alert almost led Gyllenhaal to turn down the role of Rachel Dawes in the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight.

She tells the Los Angeles Times newspaper, "I was trying to navigate my way through that (media intrusion) when this offer came. I thought, 'It's going to push that stuff further probably.' But what am I going to do? I'm going to hide and not do things that are appealing to me? I'm an actress."

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(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)