Kaley Cuoco has been a fixture on the small screen for over two decades, including her 12-year stint as Penny Hofstadter on Emmy Award-winning CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory. Most recently, the actor has starred as the title character on HBO Max’s The Flight Attendant, a whodunnit that’s been a major change of course for the star. However, despite playing romantic leads on screen for years, Cuoco admits that she’s a bit of a novice when it comes to getting romantic in front of the camera—in fact, she says that a fellow celeb had to teach her “how to have fake sex.” Read on to discover who served as Cuoco’s between the sheets instructor. And for more celebrities who’ve opened up about getting intimate on screen, Salma Hayek Said This Was the Hardest Sex Scene She Ever Had to Film.
Her first-ever sex scene was on The Flight Attendant.
Paul Archuleta/FilmMagicIn a Nov. 2020 interview with USA Today, Cuoco admitted that she had never filmed a sex scene before shooting The Flight Attendant.
“Network 8 o'clock TV is a little different than HBO Max all hours of the night,” Cuoco explained. While the actor said she’d filmed romantic scenes during her time on The Big Bang Theory, they’d been a bit more PG. “This was like a true sex scene,” she said of her Flight Attendant role.
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Cuoco said her Flight Attendant co-star taught her how to film sex scenes.
Santiago Felipe/Getty ImagesCuoco credits her Flight Attendant co-star Michiel Huisman, who previously starred as Daario Naharis on Game of Thrones, with teaching her how to capture intimate moments on screen.
“When they called action, I still wasn't really giving my all," Cuoco explained. "Michiel finally goes, 'It looks like you're hovering over a public toilet. What are you doing?' I'm like, 'I don't know what I'm doing.' So he had to awkwardly teach me how to have fake sex."
Huisman said Cuoco tried to avoid touching him while filming.
VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty ImagesIn an April 21 interview with ITV’s Morning Show, Huisman said that Cuoco was doing everything in her power to avoid touching him during the shoot.
“We’re doing our first scene like that and I noticed she was sort of hovering on top of me, she’s not really sitting on my legs,” Huisman said. “After like take three, she starts to shake a little bit and I’m like, ‘Kaley, what are you doing? Just sit down!’”
Cuoco confirmed in a Nov. 2020 interview with eTalk that she was worried about violating Huisman's boundaries during the shoot.
“I was so nervous…There’s rules in how you shoot things and what you can touch and what you can see,” Cuoco explained. “I got on top [of him] and I was on my toes with my hands in the air…he was like, ‘What are you doing?’ I’m like, ‘Well, I’m not going to touch you until they tell me I can touch you.’…He was laughing so hard at me.”
And for more awkward stars, Jennifer Aniston Says This Was Her Most Embarrassing Moment.
Huisman gave Cuoco some sage advice on getting into the moment.
Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARASAfter admitting to Huisman that she’d never filmed a sex scene before and felt nervous about doing so, Cuoco asked her co-star for advice on how to tackle their intimate shoot. “I said, ‘What do I do?’ [and] he said, ‘Stop being so weird.’”
Despite the initial awkwardness, Cuoco called working alongside Huisman “amazing.”
“He is such a grounded person and grounded actor and family man," she said. "He was lovely.” And for more surprising celebrity confessions, Holly Madison Says Anyone Moving into the Playboy Mansion Had to Do This.
