Kaley Cuoco Had A Crush On A Big Bang Theory Co-Star
Kaley Cuoco began crushing on Johnny Galecki on The Big Bang Theory set.
This article is more than 2 years old
One of the main plots of The Big Bang Theory was the romance between Penny, the pretty girl, and Leonard, the nerd across the hall. In another instance of life and art imitating each other, it turns out that Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki, the actors who played the roles, also had a romantic attraction, according to Entertainment Weekly. In an oral history of the show for Vanity Fair called The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series, the pair talked about their on-set romance and how it set the stage for a friendship that transcended the hit show.
Kaley Cuoco admitted to having “a very big crush on Johnny early on” as they began filming the show together in 2007. “I was so not even hiding it,” the actress confessed. “He has such swagger. We were both dating people at the time, but I only had eyes for Johnny. Then, when I found out he had eyes for me too, I was like, Uh‑oh, this is going to be trouble.”
Galecki, for his part, also had a romantic attraction but had no idea that the flirting was real. With the two of them playing characters who are falling in love, it was easy to mistake life for art, especially as Galecki admits to not picking up on such cues easily. “I have a healthy ego, but you really have to kind of club me over the head to let me know you’re flirting with me,” he said.
Johnny Galecki has that trait in common with his on-screen character Leonard, who lives with roommate Sheldon in an apartment in Pasadena. The two are geniuses in high-science jobs but are both socially awkward. Kaley Cuoco plays Penny, a waitress and aspiring actress who moves into the apartment across the hall and develops a friendship with her neighbors and their friends, becoming part of their world.
Leonard and Penny eventually fall in love and begin to date, and the two actors felt the chemistry in their real-life relationship as their on-screen personas’ love story developed. In one episode, Leonard has a dream that he is saving Penny from an elevator shaft, and filming the sequence involved the two being in very close quarters for a long period of time. The scene was pre-taped, which gave the budding romance time to blossom as they acted out Penny being saved and comforted in Leonard’s arms.
The two would go on to date from 2008-2010, attempting to keep the relationship separate from that of Leonard and Penny. The two did their best to keep their private life off-set. This wasn’t always easy, with Johnny Galecki telling a story that they were almost caught by creator Chuck Lorre while the two were trying to have some private time behind a car, although Lorre didn’t recall the incident.
Although they broke up in 2010, Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki have remained very close, their romantic love blossoming into a love of another type. Galecki attended both of Kaley Cuoco’s weddings, first to Ryan Sweeting and then to Karl Cook and the chemistry between Penny and Leonard continued throughout the show’s 12-year run. The two are still big fans of The Big Bang Theory and of one another.
The antics of Leonard, Sheldon, Penny, and their friends can still be seen in syndication and the show has won numerous awards for both Best Comedy and for the performances of some of its stars. It also spawned a spin-off about Sheldon, a former child genius and Leonard’s Big Bang Theory roomie, called Young Sheldon, which is continuing to air new episodes. The world of these nerds has endeared audiences all over the world, and the romance between Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki is one of the elements that helped make that happen.
