Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki are spilling the beans on their on and off-screen romance!
The former The Big Bang Theory co-stars are kissing and telling like never before in a joint interview for the book The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story. The duo dished on their real-life hook-ups, the breakup, and the Big Bang episode where they say they first “fell a little in love.”
Kaley and Johnny shared that it was the 2008 season one episode, “The Nerdvana Annihilation,” where they were first faced with their mutual attraction. Kaley said of filming the episode:
“It was not an enjoyable experience for me.”
Johnny added:
“We had to be in each other’s arms – and for quite some time, because it was a bit of a stunt that we were doing. It was a whole thing.”
Kaley interjected:
“I think we fell a little in love in that elevator shaft.”
Johnny agreed that it was a big turning point for them:
“We felt something, yeah. I think that was a massive turning point [in our relationship]. At that point, both she and I knew that something mutual was felt, and that it was going to be more of a distraction from the work to try and continue to ignore it than to actually recognize it and surrender to it.”
Kaley went on to share:
“I was like, Uh‑oh. I was crushing so hard on him. So much so that I was like, Get me out of here, because he had to hold me up and we had to do this really close thing. Even my cheeks were really red. I was super nervous and kept thinking, Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.
I was just a nervous wreck being that close to him in the moment.”
She admitted that she had a crush on Johnny from the start of production though the two of them were in relationships with different people at that point. It was not until the end of the first season that they finally acted on their feelings in real life:
“All the scenes up until we actually got together in real life, it was obvious there was always something there. There was chemistry and we were crushing on each other. That was the whole first season until we actually got together for real.”
By then, the two were single. After spending a weekend together in Montecito with their castmates (where Kaley said she tried to make a move on Johnny but was rebuffed by him), they met up for a glass of wine. Johnny recounted:
“I had gone over to the Smoke House Restaurant in Burbank after rehearsal. I was there for a bit when I texted Kaley because I knew she lived in the valley. I said, ‘Hey, I’m just having a glass of white wine. Are you nearby?’ And she texted back yes and was there in like 20 minutes or something. She later told me she was like 45 minutes away when she got that text.”
Kaley spoke about that first real life kiss — and why they chose to keep their romance a secret for a while:
“I was so excited when he texted me. I was like, Oh my God. And I knew that was going to be trouble—getting a glass of wine with him. I knew. And we kissed at the bar! It’s so dark in there that you almost feel like you can do anything, but then it was like, Uh‑oh, I think this is really going to be bad. We started kissing in the bar area, and then we were kissing in the parking lot.
Johnny can get really in his head and want to hide, whereas I’m the direct opposite. I would have told everybody the next day at the table read. I would have announced it and said, We’re together! But he was like, ‘We can’t tell anyone!’ So we kept it quiet. And don’t forget, it was different then. Social media was nowhere what it is now, so it was easier to keep it hidden. You didn’t know as much about people as you do now. It’s a different world.”
That evening, the two went back to Haley’s house and, as Johnny said, “jumped right in.”
Though they tried to keep their relationship a secret, Big Bang show runner Chuck Lorre inevitably caught them. Johnny said:
“There was one time Chuck busted us hiding behind a car in the parking lot. It was after a show when we went outside, and we saw Chuck walk solo out of the stage. We were by some cars, and we ducked down, like kids hiding from their parents! And he totally busted us, but he was classy about it and didn’t say anything. We just didn’t want anybody to worry.”
Johnny also talked about their eventual breakup, candidly sharing:
“We’re from very different worlds, but we also seem to melt into each other’s worlds in certain ways. It was a lot of fun to teach one another different things, but then when I came to wanting different things, that made things more complicated.
I think one of the things that created a chasm between us was my strict policies of privacy, and Kaley being very, very open about her life. I was very uncomfortable with being public about it, and I think that hurt Kaley’s feelings a little bit, and I can understand that. It certainly wasn’t because I was embarrassed of her or our relationship, but I wanted to be protective of the audience’s acceptance of Penny and Leonard, and without distraction from the tabloids.”
Johnny and Kaley remain close friends to this day.
