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A Bazinga for love! The Big Bang Theory, which ran for 12 seasons, followed the daily adventures of a group of scientists and their significant others until the show’s conclusion in May 2019.
The show, which premiered in September 2007, starred Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch. While filming the sitcom, the cast got particularly close. Cuoco and Galecki, specifically, even secretly dated for two years before calling it quits in December 2009.
After the two actors amicably split, their onscreen counterparts (Penny and Leonard, respectively) were still going strong.
“We weren’t weird, which is what was weird,” the Flight Attendant star told Haute Living Los Angeles in May 2019. “It was a mutual breakup, and you can rarely say that. Johnny and I were friends first, then obviously we dated.”
She continued during the interview: “When we broke up, it was funny because that was when our relationship on the show was hot and heavy. There were a lot of bed scenes. We were a little like, ‘We were trying to end the relationship and it kept falling back in.’ We got over it really fast, and we’re closer than ever now. It could have gone either way, and I was really proud of us.”
Following her split from her former costar, Cuoco eventually dated and married Ryan Sweeting in December 2013 before she filed for divorce two years later. She later married equestrian Karl Cook in June 2018 before the pair announced their split in September 2021.
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“Despite a deep love and respect for one another, we have realized that our current paths have taken us in opposite directions,” the former couple said in a statement to Us Weekly at the time. “We have both shared so much of our journey publicly so while we would prefer to keep this aspect of our personal life private, we wanted to be forthcoming in our truth together. There is no anger or animosity, quite the contrary. We have made this decision together through an immense amount of respect and consideration for one another and request that you do the same in understanding that we will not be sharing any additional details or commenting further.”
For his part, Galecki moved on to date Alaina Meyer for two years and welcomed their son, Avery, in December 2019. The pair eventually called it quits one year later.
Cuoco and Galecki weren’t the only BBT onscreen couples to have a good rapport while working together. Bialik previously gushed about working with Parsons, who played the Sheldon to her Amy.
“Jim and I had a lot of nice moments together on set and I think one of the things that worked so well for us as actor partners, and maybe as producing partners too, is that we’re not overly sentimental as humans, which I think is helpful,” the Blossom alum exclusively told Us Weekly in April 2021. “It was helpful in our acting and also in the way we kind of processed ending a decade together.”
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Scroll below to revisit the Big Bang Theory cast’s dating history through the years:
