Kaley Cuoco’s horrific leg injury during The Big Bang Theory’s fourth season caused major complications.
During The Big Bang Theory’s twelve seasons on the air, the sitcom was one of the most successful shows on television. As a result of that success, Kaley Cuoco and the rest of The Big Bang Theory’s cast became very rich and famous.
Given how successful Cuoco was at the height of The Big Bang Theory’s popularity, she may have seemed untouchable. In reality, however, Cuoco was still a human being who was vulnerable like everyone else as evidenced by the horrific leg injury she suffered. That leg injury wound up becoming a major problem during the filming of The Big Bang Theory’s fourth season.
How Did Kaley Cuoco Severely Injure Her Leg?
Throughout Hollywood history, there have been many famous actors who’ve used their fame and fortune to embrace their other passions. Probably the most talked about example of that is the fact that the likes of Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, and John Travolta became pilots.
Similar to those actors, The Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco has used her fortune to follow her passion. However, Cuoco’s passion has very little to do with modern technology as she adores horses and loves jumping them.
When one of Cuoco’s beloved horses passed away in 2023, she paid tribute to the animal on Instagram. “Sometimes horses come into your life and truly make you see the world in a new and beautiful way. Si Bella , you were the horse of a lifetime . Still to this day I cannot believe you were mine.”
Cuoco continued, “You taught me how to fly and put me in dream arenas I thought could only ever be a dream. You had the heart of a warrior truly till your last breath. You deserve all the love, gratitude , and respect my heart can muster. Thank you for giving me your all ,since the day we met.”
It is also worth noting that it seems likely that a shared love for horses played a role in Cuoco’s second marriage. From 2017 until their divorce was finalized in 2022, Cuoco was married to a professional equestrian named Karl Cook.
Based on everything that is known about Cuoco, she continues to adore horses to this day. That is all the more incredible given that a horrific horse-riding accident almost cost Cuoco one of her legs more than a decade ago.
In the year 2010, the media reported on the fact that Kaley Cuoco had suffered an injury to one of her legs. For casual The Big Bang Theory fans who weren’t paying close attention, it was easy to assume that Cuoco’s leg injury wasn’t a big deal.
For that reason, it took many fans by surprise when Cuoco has more recently reflected on what she went through. For example, when Cuoco appeared on the “SmartLess” podcast in 2023, she spoke about how close she came to losing her leg.
“It was a bad accident, it was a very bad accident.” Cuoco went on to explain that she fell off her horse and initially wasn’t injured. However, the horse then stepped on her leg and since the graceful animal is so heavy, it did a staggering amount of damage to the actor.
“I remember clear as day, because it takes a second when something is that bad. I was like, ‘Did I just fall on a whole thing of leaves?’ Because I heard all the cracking. … It took me like five or 10 seconds to actually realize it wasn’t just 400 leaves, it was my bones.”
When Today summarized Cuoco’s description of her leg injury, it was hard to read since it sounded so grisly. “Cuoco said she suffered a compound fracture of her tibia and fibula, the two bones that connect the ankle to the knee, causing the bones to pierce through the skin of her lower leg.”
Unsurprisingly, Cuoco described the damage that was done to her leg as “a horrible, horrible, horrible break”. According to Cuoco, she had to undergo surgery in the immediate aftermath of the horrible incident. Cuoco also explained during that podcast appearance that she had to sign a waiver allowing doctors to amputate her leg.
How Did Kaley Cuoco’s Brutal Leg Injury Affect The Big Bang Theory?
In November 2022, Jessica Radloff’s oral history book “The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series” was released. For avid fans of The Big Bang Theory, there are many stories from the show’s production they’d love to know.
Still, there is no doubt that the section of that book that related to Kaley Cuoco’s leg injury was one of its most interesting parts. For her book, Radloff’ spoke at the same time to Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, and Chuck Lorre, The Big Bang Theory’s co-creator and showrunner.
As Lorre explained to Radloff, the scariest part of his entire TBBT tenure was when Cuoco injured her leg. “That was the darkest, most frightening time in all twelve years [of the show]. Kaley could have lost her leg. It was a series of miracles that allowed us to get through that and for her to come out the other end of that healthy.”
Following Lorre’s comments, Galecki agreed that it was a scary thing to watch Cuoco go through from afar. “They were talking about amputating her leg, which was devastating to hear.” Galecki continued while addressing Cuoco, “The first day I saw you in that state, I just shed tears in my garage.”
After Radloff’s book covered how upsetting Cuoco’s injury was, it focused on how the show was affected. As it turns out, Cuoco’s severe injury caused a lot of shuffling behind the scenes of The Big Bang Theory.
Right off the hop, Cuoco’s bosses let her completely skip some episode filming sessions, so she could have time to partially recover. During the fourth season of The Big Bang Theory, Cuoco didn’t appear in two episodes.
Once Cuoco returned to the set of The Big Bang Theory, producers came up with a way to make things easier for her. When Penny suddenly becomes a bartender, that was a creative decision that was dictated by Cuoco’s leg injury.
With Cuoco filming scenes behind a bar, the cameras didn’t show the pink leg cast she wore throughout her recovery. On top of that, being behind the bar allowed Cuoco to sit while she filmed scenes which was perfect because she couldn’t put weight on her leg.
