Big Bang Theory Creator Denies Exploiting Cuoco/Galecki Relationship

When it came to CBS’ ensemble comedy The Big Bang Theory, one of the focal points was the relationship between Johnny Galecki’s Leonard Hofstadter and Kaley Cuoco’s Penny. The recurring theme of the series initially is the group of four Cal Tech friends and scientists who lovingly embrace pop culture and are friends with their female blue-collar neighbor, Penny. The cast expanded throughout the show’s run adding Melissa Rauch’s Bernadette Rostenkowski to pair with Simon Helberg’s Howard Wolowitz and Mayim Bialik’s Amy Farrah Fowler with Jim Parson’s Sheldon Cooper. In a behind-the-scenes tell-all with Vanity Fair, Galecki and Cuoco accused sitcom creator Chuck Lorre of exploiting their real-life relationship after they broke up by inserting more intimate scenes for their characters to mess with them.

“All of a sudden, we started noticing there were extra makeout scenes for our characters and/or sex scenes,” Cuoco said. “I was like, ‘I think Chuck is fucking with us!’ We were convinced. Convinced! Like, Yeah, they want to date and break up on my show, well, here you go! and he was writing all the little doodads in there.” Galecki agreed with his co-star about Lorre. “Even though it was organic for the characters, I think he would fuck with us [laughs]. If it was an accident, it was a very timely accident.”

Lorre stressed that wasn’t the case. “No. Not at all. Making a good show has no room for fucking with anybody,” he said. “There’s no ‘Let’s mess with Kaley and Johnny.’ The goal was to make a great show and make every minute of every episode count. And that was the only goal. We don’t have that kind of freedom to risk a TV series that you put your heart and soul into to mess with somebody’s head. No. I think that’s charming that they think we had the mental capacity to mess with them. [Laughs] Penny and Leonard having difficulty sustaining a relationship was one of the reasons to keep watching — to see if they could make it. You were rooting for them to find happiness.”

Apparently, Galecki is more than fine to take Lorre at his word. “I guess that was pretty egotistical of us to think that. [Laughs] We were reading into things a little too much. I’m going to sleep a little easier tonight,” the actor responded. Jessica Radloff’s The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story comes to stores on October 11th.