Like comfort food for the brain, nerdy sitcom The Big Bang Theory topped the ratings for
12 seasons.
But it wasn't always fun and games behind the scenes.
Here's a look at the sometimes salacious and often amusing off-stage antics from the cast
of the late, great Big Bang Theory.
By the end of its 12-year run, the writers on The Big Bang Theory stopped messing around,
and permanently coupled up the neighbors-turned-friends-turned-spouses Leonard and Penny.
During the early years of the show, Leonard and Penny's relationship was more complicated
than Ross and Rachel's on Friends.
“We were on a break!"
Meanwhile, off the set, things were far more concrete for actors Johnny Galecki and Kaley
Cuoco.
In 2010, well after their amicable split, Cuoco told CBS Watch that she'd dated her
TV love interest for nearly two years in a completely secret relationship.
While maintaining privacy within a romance is something many celebs strive for, Cuoco
also said that the couple couldn't go out in public together without drawing attention
to their relationship - so they never did.
As she put it,
"Everyone was always asking, and we deny-deny-denied.
And I'm like, 'Why am I denying this person that I love?'"
Galecki later gave his side of the story to CBS Watch, saying, quote, "Kaley's not just
an ex, she's a part of my life."
And for now, at least, that's all he'll say about the subject.
He said,
"I just don't like to speak about it.
And not because I'm trying to be enigmatic; I just worry that it will conflict with people's
acceptance of Leonard and Penny."
Another set romance
Sara Gilbert first appeared in her recurring role as sardonic experimental physicist Leslie
Winkle during the first season of The Big Bang Theory, reuniting her with her Roseanne
love interest, Johnny Galecki.
Their characters also briefly dated, just as Gilbert and Galecki did in real life, back
in their mutual Roseanne days.
"So how many children do you think we should have?"
It was when she and Galecki were an item, however, that Gilbert realized she was attracted
to women.
Gilbert said on The Talk,
"We started dating, and he would come over and we would, like, make out, and then I would
start to get depressed."
Galecki noticed something was up, and Gilbert shared her feelings about the situation, which
she described as being, quote, "kind of a bummer."
The two broke up but stayed close friends, and when Gilbert decided to publicly come
out as gay in 2010, she asked Galecki for permission to tell the story.
While it sounds like it could have gotten awkward really fast, Gilbert says Galecki
was sweet and understanding about it.
"He was like, 'Of course.
I love you, and I think it's really important and I'm so proud of you.
If you want, I will be there, and I will hold your hand.'"
The Big Bang Theory is just one of many hit TV shows created at least in part by Chuck
Lorre, the man responsible for hits like Two and a Half Men, Grace Under Fire, and Dharma
& Greg.
And yet despite working as an actor for Hollywood for the better part of the decade before he
landed the role of Sheldon Cooper, Jim Parsons had reportedly never even heard of Lorre.
When Parsons' agent called to tell him he'd landed an audition for the new Chuck Lorre
pilot, Parsons thought the agent meant the sitcom was created by Chuck Woolery, the host
of game shows such as Scrabble and Love Connection - and that idea didn't thrill him.
Speaking on The Late Show with David Letterman in 2014, Parsons said he thought,
"Why are they so excited about it?
We should see what the man has to offer before we're like 'It's a new Chuck Woolery project!'"
Over the course of its 12 seasons, The Big Bang Theory built up a well-populated universe
of friends, coworkers, and various associates of the seven main characters.
Two of the most frequently recurring actors were Kevin Sussman as sad-sack comic book
store owner Stuart Bloom, and John Ross Bowie as speech-impeded, Sheldon-hating physicist
Barry Kripke.
In 2011, Sussman and Bowie teamed up for an extracurricular activity: writing for television.
After getting on Sony's radar with a script called Dark Minions, the writing partners
said the studio bought a pilot from them about two cool parents raising an eccentric five-year
old daughter called The Ever After Part.
While Fox expressed interest, the network ultimately didn't pick up the show for the
2012-13 season, and passed again after developing the show once more five years later.
Unfortunately, Sussman and Bowie didn't score with their other pilot pitch either.
In 2012, CBS ordered scripts for - but never produced - an ensemble comedy created by the
duo called The Second Coming of Rob.
In the first episode of The Big Bang Theory's seventh season, titled "The Hofstadter Insufficiency,"
Bernadette and Amy - played by Melissa Rauch and Mayim Bialik - attend an out-of-town convention
together and share a hotel room.
It was while shooting one of those scenes in full view of a live studio audience that
Rauch caused, as she described it on a 2013 episode of Conan, "a little incident".
While shooting the scene, Rauch buried herself under the covers with just her head popping
out of the top, and began vigorously rubbing her hands together in an effort to keep warm.
To the audience, it apparently looked like she was rubbing, well, something else.
"The director and the producer came over to me and said, 'We need to see your hands in
the next take.
It looked like you were having way too much fun with yourself.”
Apparently, the crew of the series weren't the only people who noticed.
After the taping finished, Rauch said she spoke with a kid in the audience who noticed
something funny going on too.
"This little boy said to me, 'Did you shoot that scene again with your hands out 'cause
it looked weird?
'Cause my dad said it looked real weird.'"
In September 2013, Kaley Cuoco disappointed all those who wished for real life Penny and
Leonard to get together when she announced her engagement to pro tennis player Ryan Sweeting.
The surprising news came just three months after they started dating and a handful of
days after they made it red carpet official.
On December 31, 2013, the couple made things even more official by actually getting married,
and Cuoco even had the date of the happy occasion tattooed on her back.
But while tattoos generally last forever, Cuoco's first marriage did not.
Just under two years later, the actress filed for divorce in September 2015.
So, what happened to kill their relationship so quickly?
According to an insider who spoke with Page Six, it was allegedly Sweeting's substance
abuse issues that took the biggest toll on the marriage.
Cuoco reportedly gave her husband an ultimatum - either he go sober, or the marriage was
over.
Sweeting reportedly checked into a rehab center, but upon release, he disappeared for a few
days - and that was the end of that.
The whole idea of marriage is that it's supposed to last forever, which means every wedded
couple out there has to find what works to ensure that both people are happy and comfortable
for the long haul.
For lots of people it means maintaining some kind of independence - weekly book clubs or
man caves for example.
"We turned your room into a sex dungeon!"
Less common among married people: Living in completely different houses and maybe not
seeing each other on a regular basis.
That's the track chosen by Kaley Cuoco and her second husband, equestrian athlete Karl
Cook.
The two married in June 2018, but as of August 2019, they still weren't living together.
As she told E! News:
"We're building our dream house and we're eventually going to be under the same roof
forever.
"We have a very unconventional marriage, you know.
We have different locations that we're at a lot.
We're not together every single day."
Hey, whatever works.
In 2010, Kaley Cuoco went out for a horse-riding lesson, and almost didn't come back in one
piece.
The horse threw her off, then tried to jump over her, but landed on her leg.
"I actually thought he was walking on leaves, that's the way the sound of my leg was."
The damage was so bad that doctors reportedly considered partial amputation of Cuoco's leg.
Fortunately, the whole limb was able to be saved, which is kind of miraculous considering
all the bones she later said she saw sticking out of it.
With the injury leaving Cuoco unable to walk, The Big Bang Theory writers had to come up
with some new plot ideas.
They devised a storyline in which Penny decides to pursue being a bartender at the Cheesecake
Factory, and practices for the job by making drinks for the gang.
That allowed the crew to conceal Cuoco's metal-rod-scaffolded leg behind furniture.
Two years later after Cuoco's big break, Mayim Bialik sustained an off-set injury after she
was involved in a car accident, an incident she later described on her blog as being quite,
quote, "bloody and scary."
While this accident wasn't as destructive as the injury that befell her castmate, Bialik
still faced a long recovery.
She appeared with a heavily bandaged right hand at a Television Academy event just a
week after the incident.
Despite the troubles, Bialik told E! Online that the injury wouldn't be written into the
show, telling the outlet,
"We're going to make it work.
As long as I'm not dancing or walking.
We're good."
As the Harvey Weinstein scandal and resulting MeToo movement gripped Hollywood in 2017,
the entertainment industry struggled to understand, course correct, and move forward when it comes
to matters of consent and power dynamics in the film industry.
As a part of that moment, Mayim Bialik penned an essay for The New York Times about her
experiences as a young woman in Hollywood.
Most of her comments were thoughtful and empowering, but she also veered into areas that some viewed
as problematic.
While Bialik wrote that
"Nothing - absolutely nothing - excuses men for assaulting or abusing women"
she also said that she avoided nasty situations by making, quote, "self-protecting and wise"
decisions.
Writing about her own personal strategy for avoiding harassment at work, she wrote,
"I dress modestly.
I don't act flirtatiously with men as a policy."
That comment in particular sparked a social media firestorm, with many accusing Bialik
of blaming sexual misconduct on women victims instead of male perpetrators.
Bialik quickly issued a heartfelt apology on Twitter, saying:
"Let me say clearly and explicitly that I am very sorry.
What you wear and how you behave does not provide any protection from assault, nor does
the way you dress or act in any way make you responsible for being assaulted.
[...] I am truly sorry for causing so much pain, and I hope you can all forgive me."
Among the many giants of science-fiction who've interacted with the sci-fi loving characters
of The Big Bang Theory, Wil Wheaton just might be the best.
The Star Trek: The Next Generation star portrayed a heightened version of himself: a petty,
mean, self-centered rival turned friend to Sheldon Cooper.
At a TNG cast reunion at the 2012 Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, the real Wheaton
owned up to some behavior more fitting of the fictional Wheaton.
In 1990, he walked away from Star Trek, returning for the occasional guest spot until the show
ended in 1994.
"Sir, I know this may finish me as an acting ensign, but-"
"Shut up, Wesley!"
Wheaton said at the reunion,
"I was 18 years old and initially I thought it was a really smart business career move.
In some ways it was and in more ways it wasn't."
He was so devoted to finding his own way that he avoided his co-stars for years, saying
"After that ended, I just felt really ashamed of myself.
[...] I felt like I couldn't look them in the eye - I felt like I didn't have the right
to invite them to my wedding."
After he crossed paths with his co-stars at fan conventions, he apologized for his behavior,
and won back his old friends.
"Hey Wil, whatcha doin’?"
“I was on Star Trek, just rooting for the home team!"
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