If you're a big star in Hollywood, it's hard
to keep your private life under wraps.
However, Big Bang Theory co-stars Kaley Cuoco
and Johnny Galecki managed to pull off one
of the biggest secret relationships in Tinsel
Town.
The stars, who play Penny and Leonard on the
hit CBS sitcom, revealed in 2010 that they'd
been dating for around two years, but had
split on friendly terms.
People were shocked — how could they keep
it so secret for so long?
While Leonard and Penny are still in love
and even walked down the aisle on The Big
Bang Theory, their real-life relationship
fizzled out off-screen.
"You wrote vows?"
"Yeah."
"I don't have any, you're kinda making me
look bad."
Let's look at the real reasons the secretive
lovebirds ended their illicit romance.
Forced into hiding
After confessing to dating her co-star in
an interview with CBS Watch! magazine back
in 2010, Cuoco also revealed that she never
went anywhere with Galecki during their two-year
romance, for fear of being photographed together.
"This is the first time I've ever talked about
it, ever.
It was a wonderful relationship but we never
spoke a word about it and never went anywhere
together.
We were so protective of ourselves and the
show and didn't want anything to ruin that.
But that also made it sad, too.
That's not the kind of relationship I want
— I don't want to be hiding.
We couldn't do anything.
It wasn't as fun as we wanted it to be."
Penny and Leonard forever
Galecki opened up about the romance in 2013,
and revealed how he and Cuoco were worried
their off-screen romance would distract from
the on-again/off-again relationship their
characters Leonard and Penny had on The Big
Bang Theory.
He told CBS Watch! magazine
"I just don't like to speak about it.
And not because I'm trying to be enigmatic;
I just worry that it will conflict with people's
acceptance of Leonard and Penny…
I get the curiosity, but I don't want to distract
from the story."
Despite their off-screen relationship ending,
their beloved characters Penny and Leonard
ended up getting married in the first episode
of season nine, which aired in September 2015,
and then wed again in season ten in 2016.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife.
And weird other husband who came with the
apartment."
Lying to their friends
The cast of The Big Bang Theory are all good
friends, as most of their behind the scenes
photos prove.
All they seem to do is goof around on set.
"That's fantastic, and you have real beer
in the refrigerator"
"Oh, isn't that nice, we'll need that replaced."
"It's mine now."
But despite their tight-knit friendship with
their co-stars Jim Parsons, Kunal Nayyar,
and Simon Helberg, Cuoco and Galecki still
chose to lie to their friends about their
blossoming romance.
"We didn't tell them, for like four or five
months, which was horrible because we were
like best friends then."
Eventually, it affected their relationship.
"Everyone was always asking, and we deny-deny-denied.
And I'm like, 'Why am I denying this person
that I love?'
It took a little bit of a toll on me and I
think it did for him, too…
We knew how to keep it deep inside and never
bring it on that set, ever."
They even worked during the aftermath of their
break-up without telling anybody on set that
they'd ended their relationship.
Said Cuoco about the breakup: "We broke up
before the holidays and worked that whole
time.
We dodged a huge bullet.
Dodged a war."
Child star pressures
Cuoco started acting as a young child.
She was only ten when she appeared in the
Denzel Washington sci-fi thriller Virtuosity
in 1995, while Galecki caught the acting bug
when he was just six years old, and got his
big break at 14 when he was cast as Chevy
Chase's son Rusty in 1989's National Lampoon's
Christmas Vacation.
"Russ!"
"Right here, dad"
"Huh, there you are."
Having dealt with the pressures of Hollywood
longer than most, the two were desperate to
keep their romance away from the prying eyes
of the paparazzi and celebrity gossip magazines.
However, it was a decision that ultimately
ended their two-year-long romance.
As Cuoco put it:
"When you're dealing with two professionals
who have been working since they were both
four — and who kept their lives extremely
private — we didn't want anything other
than that."
A doomed romance
Despite their admiration and respect for one
another after their break-up, Cuoco revealed
that the couple had actually agreed on how
they would deal with ending their relationship
when they first began dating.
Cuoco told CBS Watch!:
"We knew we weren't destined to be together.
We accepted it and said, 'Look, if we ever
break up, we will be professional.
I'm so lucky it was a mutual ending and that
we don't hate each other.
We've seen that happen on other shows."
Better friends than lovers?
Since their break-up, the couple have continued
to be close friends, even meeting each other's
partners and goofing around in interviews.
Were they just always destined to be better
as friends than as boyfriend and girlfriend?
"We're going to put on music and dance in
our underwear."
"Ugh, can't we just have sex?"
Galecki told The View that their professional
relationship still works so well because they
still love and respect each other.
"It's not easy, but with those two ingredients,
pretty much anything is possible and we're
dear, dear friends."
Rumors swirled that the pair were dating again
after Cuoco split from her husband Ryan Sweeting
in 2015.
But the on-screen sweethearts took to social
media to shut down the false reports.
Cuoco posted a shot of her and her former
boyfriend on Instagram with the caption, "No
scandals/home wreckers/pregnancies here, y'all.
Just profound friendship."
Looks like we'll just have to settle for the
on-screen romance of Leonard and Penny!
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