Tom Pelphrey didn’t understand why his family was calling Kaley Cuoco ‘Penny’


Who needs a little shot of love heading into the weekend? I do, so I give you baby, dogs, and star signs courtesy of Tom Pelphrey. Tom and his wife Kaley Cuoco welcomed Matilda on March 30, and both parents seem absolutely besotted. As they should be! W Magazine did a little profile on him to promote his role in HBO’s Love & Death. The interview was conducted before the actors’ strike, and Love & Death aired in the spring, so I’m not sure why W Mag has the story out now. (If it was meant to be an Emmys push, the series only received one nomination–for Jesse Plemmons.) But no matter, because Tom is adorable talking about all of the above, and also not knowing his wife’s most famous role:

Did you ever watch The Big Bang Theory?
Never. Matter of fact, when I first brought Kaley to New Jersey to meet my family and friends, my mom’s partner—who apparently was a Big Bang Theory fan—was there, and he kept calling her Penny. I had no clue what was going on. So I pulled Kaley aside, like, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand what’s happening. Why does he keep calling you Penny?” She’s like, “That’s my character in The Big Bang Theory.” I was completely unaware. I’ve watched a few episodes with her since, and, obviously, she’s fantastic.

So you hadn’t seen her in anything?
I hadn’t seen Kaley in anything. Look, I live in a cave. Before I met Kaley, I was living in upstate New York, on a dirt road, in the middle of the woods, without much Wi-Fi. She’s brought me into modern times.

Well, you still kind of live a wild life, since you have so many animals? How many now?
We’re up to six dogs, all rescues. And now we have a beautiful little girl. A human to add to the mix.

Do the dogs accept the human?
The dogs all accept the human. Five of the dogs are over 10 years old. And then, about four weeks before Matilda was going to be born, Kaley said, “I saw another dog that needs to be rescued. Is it crazy to rescue another dog right now?” I said, “It’s absolutely crazy, but let’s do it.”

What is your zodiac sign?
My birthday is July 28. I’m a Leo. I am a Libra rising and a Scorpio moon. My daughter shares two of my three signs. She’s not a Leo. She’s an Aries sun, but she is Leo moon and Libra rising, just like me.

Do you see yourself in her?
I see myself a little bit in her. She’s got one dimple on her left cheek, like I do. Other than that, though, I see Kaley. Kaley says she sees me, but when Matilda’s kind of confused or frustrated about something, she makes these faces and I’m like, “Oh my god, there’s your mom.”

[From W Magazine]

To be fair to Tom, Kaley has said she’d never seen him on Ozark, either. Anyway, it’s all super cute and I’m rooting for them. Generally I am skeptical about relationships that move so quickly, or when the gush level gets out of control (case in point: Tom Cruise circa 2005). But so was my mama, and then she said she had a full on thunderbolt moment the first time she saw my father — does it get any sexier? My mama also happens to be an Aries, one of many dynamic Aries women my life has been blessed with. Matilda is in good company.

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20 Responses to “Tom Pelphrey didn’t understand why his family was calling Kaley Cuoco ‘Penny’”

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  1. Pinkosaurus says:

    I hope this works out because they are adorable. She’s had a history of having a bad picker and falling fast. I’m always going to root for someone with such a genuine love of animals.

  2. Southern Fried says:

    She’s an idiot for never watching him in Ozark. It’s one thing to not have seen her boring sitcom but to miss Ozark? Every time I see him I see his mentally ill character, Wendy’s brother Ben.

    • Gutterflower says:

      It’s funny you say that, because I have seen numerous episodes of BBT, but could not get into Ozark.

    • Ameerah M says:

      Her sitcom was the highest rated network television sitcom for years. Ozark is a streaming show. I have never watched Ozark. But I have watched Big Bang Theory. No diss to Ozark but it is in no way as popular as her show was.

      • Flowersabloom says:

        I don’t think anyone said Ozark was as popular as BBT. But Ozark was more prestigious, and he really was fantastic and heart-breaking in his role on the show.

        BBT was a lowest common denominator garbage sitcom. Never seen an episode of it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

      • dlc says:

        If you’ve never seen an episode you are just parroting someone else’s opinion about it being the “lowest common denominator” sitcom.

  3. Kebbie says:

    Did he think she bought a 40 acre horse ranch with 8 Simple Rules money?

    Or did he know she was on the show, just not her character’s name?

  4. Ameerah M says:

    Did they get married?

    • Kebbie says:

      They wear wedding bands, but no official confirmation. She said she’d never get married again after her last divorce.

      • Ameerah M says:

        Yeah I remember her saying that more than once. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they did.

  5. AnneL says:

    It’s adorable how besotted they are! I love that he was living on a dirt road with no Wi Fi before he met her and now he’s tuned in and has a thousand dogs and a baby girl, lol. What a lovely little family.

    I loved “Ozark,” loved his performance. I know BBT was way more popular, and Kaley was great in it. I could just never get into BBT. It was a good show, but I didn’t find the whole “Scientists Are So Weird And Socially Maladept, Amiright?” thing so funny after a while. And I felt a little uncomfortable about the portrayal of Howard and his mother. I thought it was borderline anti-Semitic.

  6. Scout says:

    I call BS. That show was on for about a decade.

    • Twin Falls says:

      I googled popular shows with more than ten seasons just to see if I’ve seen at least an episode of them and I can say I’ve never seen an episode of it’s always sunny in Philadelphia or Family Guy and would not get a reference to any of those characters. Granted I’m not an actor but it’s possible to miss long running tv shows even when you don’t live off of a dirt road with no WiFi.

      • Teddy says:

        Ditto for “never sunny” and “family guy”. Have never watched. And I only saw my first ep of Big Bang during pandemic lockdowns. Had no clue of any characters. So yeah, I believe him. My big takeaway here is that they rescue senior dogs. That melts my heart.

      • DK says:

        I’m agreeing with the BS. I’ve never seen It’s Always Sunny either.

        But I would get references to at least a few It’s Always Sunny characters, since I have family who were fans and would talk about the show (if his stepdad is as big a fan of BBT as he claims, he’d have been exposed to such talk too – especially after he started dating her! There’s no way his stepdad didn’t do some equivalent of squealing “OMG you’re dating Penny!” when he told his folks).

        And honestly, even if he really truly didn’t know by then, it certainly seems he would have deduced it from the context – his stepdad keeps calling his girlfriend, who starred for 10 years on his favorite show, by a name other than her actual name. Who wouldn’t have guessed it was her character’s name, and instead just made sure she was cool (rather than hurt/insulted) with that?!

        Still, I’ll root for these two as they’ve got a little one now.

  7. jferber says:

    Looking at them together makes me happy. Please more good stories like this.

  8. Kelsey says:

    I’m cracking up because I LOVED Ozark but I can’t remember which character he played for the life of me lmaooooo.

    I’m not a big Kaley fan (I have no good reason; I didn’t like Big Bang Theory like that and her character annoyed me- she annoys me but I don’t know her and that’s not her fault nor problem) but something about this relationship/marriage seems like this is the love she’s been searching for all these years, and I love a good happy ending. Their little family is precious and I’m happy for them.

    Also cracking up at homeboy knowing his big three off the rip. I know das right.

  9. Murphy says:

    Kaley does this gushing over all her partners/husbands, it’s nice to see one reciprocating for once.

  10. jferber says:

    I think she’s found true love and I am so happy for her and her beautiful little family!!! Blessings.