The Big Bang Theory co-stars’ offscreen romance began with a humorous failed attempt at flirting.
Co-stars and onscreen lovers in The Big Bang Theory, Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki also found off-screen love along the way. Although it didn’t last long and the pair parted their romantic ways behind the scenes within two years, they still keep up with each other as good friends. And the way they started their off-screen love story was nothing short of as iconic as their on-screen journey.
As it turns out, even though the duo was enchanted with each other from their very first meet, Cuoco’s glamorous looks just weren’t enough to completely lure Galecki under their charm. If anything, even after she broke up with her boyfriend and tried to pursue her TBBT co-star through a very common “trap,” the Leonard Hofstader portrayer wasn’t one to fall for it that easily!
The Time Kaley Cuoco Tried to Lure Johnny Galecki Into Her Trap
Back in 2007, when Kaley Cuoco was cast in The Big Bang Theory, was when she first made acquaintance with Galecki and realized that she “had a very big crush on Johnny early on.” However, she was in a relationship at that time and so was her then-32-year-old co-star, so things couldn’t really get going that quickly.
If anything, Cuoco didn’t even hang out with the guys after the shoot ended until one day, as the shoot for season one neared its end, Johnny Galecki randomly called her up to let her know that the guys had gone up to Montecito and wanted her to join them.
Surprisingly enough, on that very day, Cuoco had broken up with her boyfriend, so she finally agreed to hang out with her co-stars. But things didn’t really go the way she intended them to, when her epic plan to trick Galecki into coming into her cabin failed.
As the pair shared in The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series (via Vanity Fair), by the time the actress had arrived at her cabin, which was coincidentally right next to Galecki’s, everyone else had already gone to bed. But Cuoco had just gotten out of a relationship, and the person she liked was quite literally right next door.
Thus, she devised a plan to trick him into coming to her room. Calling up Galecki from her room in an attempt to flirt with him, she went:
There’s a bug in my room. You have to come and kill it.
However, much to her dismay, Galecki had the most disapproving response of the decade. He said, “I’m not doing that,” turning down whatever intentions Cuoco had for him right there and then.
Recalling that incident, Cuoco shared:
There was definitely a bug in my room and I was flirting with him! So both were true! I was like, Ooh, this could be a good way to get him in there! But that didn’t work.
If anything, his turning down someone as beautiful, friendly, and charming as Cuoco was something the actress simply couldn’t believe. As she continued to confess, laughing:
I couldn’t believe he turned me down. I still think he turned me down because he knew what I was doing. I used the bug as an excuse, and he still did not come over.
While that does come as a surprise, Galecki turned her down for a very good reason, which he shared: “The whole point of the trip was for all of us to be equals and get to know one another better. So I declined the demand to go kill a bug in her room.”
And, besides, Galecki wasn’t “just a piece of meat” to simply be down just because Cuoco was flirting with him!
In His Defense, Johnny Galecki is “Not Just a Piece of Meat”
As he continued to confess for the book, Galecki wasn’t going to be easy, and if the Penny portrayer really wanted to have him, she would have to win him over. As the actor said sarcastically:
Well, I’m not that easy, Kaley. I’m not just a piece of meat. There’s a heart in here. There’s real blood that pumps through my veins, believe it or not. I have feelings. At least take me to dinner and a show first! Bug in her room. Jeez.
At the same time, he also admitted how, “at that point, it felt a little bit premature, especially from someone who was literally jilted from a relationship four hours earlier.”
Yes, Cuoco was a bit too earnest, especially for someone who had just gotten out of a relationship.
But then the two eventually found their way back to each other, just like their onscreen characters, and the rest was history!
