Kaley Cuoco opens up about her pixie cut on The Big Bang Theory: ‘That decision bit me in the ass’

In The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series, a new book from Grand Central Publishing available Tuesday, October 11, the cast and producers of the hit sitcom reunited for over 120 hours of interviews with GLAMOUR US' senior editor Jessica Radloff to talk about life on- and off-screen. In this exclusive excerpt, Kaley Cuoco (Penny Hofstadter) opens up about her much-discussed pixie cut in 2014 and the surprising lesson she learned after getting the chop. 

As soon as the eighth season of The Big Bang Theory started airing, the big news was Penny’s new look. Over the summer, Kaley Cuoco decided to cut her hair, first into a chic shoulder-length bob, then a chin-framing cut, and eventually into a pixie. It provoked a lot of feelings from viewers, including GLAMOUR US' deputy digital editor at the time, Lindsey Unterberger, who wrote, “The same chic cut I love on Kaley, I absolutely hate on Penny.”

Kaley Cuoco (Penny Hofstadter): I just f***ing cut my hair off and didn’t tell anyone. I did it for an independent film called Burning Bodhi, and basically showed up to our Big Bang wrap party with short hair. [Cocreator] Chuck [Lorre] hugged me and said, “Wow, look at your hair!” and I said, “Do you like it?” I don’t know if I was being rebellious. I mean, I did do it for the movie, which was my excuse to cut it. At that point we were heading into our eighth season and something needed to shake up. I was bored and sick of the hair, and what’s funny is I thought by cutting my hair, I would spend less time in the hair and makeup chair, even though I loved the hair and makeup team. And then in my attempt to spend less time on my hair, that decision bit me in the ass and it took way longer to do my short hair. I was like, This is the worst decision! What was I thinking?! I thought I was cutting off all this time, because I hated going in and getting ready. That’s why I was wearing my hair up so much in season six and seven. So then I cut it and it ended up being more work because it wasn’t easy to style.

Chuck Lorre (co-creator, executive producer): We didn’t have a heads-up on the haircut! When you think back on it, it was startling. I wish we had been in the loop. Had she come to me, I would have told her how the ratings dropped on Dharma & Greg when Jenna Elfman did the same thing. And they dropped on Felicity as well. The audience had become infatuated with the character, and not just the character’s behaviour and flaws and strengths, but in how the character looked. They became iconic, and to disregard that audience attachment was a mistake. And I witnessed it firsthand. It would have been the same thing if Johnny [Galecki] had come to the wrap party and had shaved his head. We’re all in this together! But I love that Kaley recognised it for what it was. She’s very self-aware, and we survived it. As bumps in the road go, that was a small one.

Kaley Cuoco: I was justifying it because Penny was starting this new job as a pharmaceutical rep. It was going to have to work because it’s what I was doing. [Laughs.] I remember the writers figuring out what Sheldon was going to say when he saw her hair and literally would never be able to let it go, which made me laugh. But it’s just funny to see how that was such a big deal. I remember actors on other shows who cut their hair and thinking, Why would they do that? And then I went and did it! Whatever, there’s always going to be haters. Welcome to the business!

Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper): [Laughs.] It’s one thing to change your hair for a play that’s running for six months, it’s another thing not to change it for a decade-plus. At some point you just go, I’m going to do it and apologise later rather than ask permission.

And even though Cuoco had to spend longer in the hair and makeup room on show nights, she still loved the cut, even if others didn’t.

Kaley Cuoco: I had fun with it, and I did like it. I’m sure it was being negatively talked about all over the place, but I didn’t pay as much attention to what people were saying on social media then. But I do remember we had wrapped an episode, and as I was walking up to my dressing room, an executive said to me, “I just want you to know, who cares what everybody else says? I love your hair!” And I said, “Who said what about my hair?” Her eyes got so big, and I was like, “No, seriously, did someone say something about my hair?” And she was like, “Oh, no, no, I think it looks great.” She totally got her foot in her mouth, because obviously it was a topic of conversation! I guarantee that woman probably thinks about that moment a lot. It was not a good night for her!

And yes, while it was jarring to see Penny with an entirely new haircut and wardrobe, it also played into her desire to be taken more seriously, especially as she embarked on a new career in the pharmaceutical sales field.

Mary T. Quigley (costume designer, coproducer): When she cut her hair, I wanted her style to be higher end, more mature, with more linear-looking clothes that had an edge. It just signalled a new direction with her new career, and letting go of the Nebraska-farm-girl look. Not that it was that, but it was much more LA-looking now. I put her in a couple of leather jackets. Penny knew to go to Nordstrom Rack instead of Nordstrom. We also put her in a lot of Theory suits. In fact, her pink suit she wore when the elevator opened in the series finale was from Theory.

Kaley Cuoco: Penny’s look was very specific early on, and it did change a lot, which I loved. It got a little more business-y, and then in the later years, I must have worn 400 shirts from the line Equipment. To this day I cannot wear another Equipment shirt. I wore every print. I see them, and I am like, “That was Penny!” I cannot wear them anymore. [Laughs.] But what we love about Penny is her sweats and her T-shirts, and all the comfy scenes. And I would love that too. I’d read a scene and go, “Oooh! A comfy scene!” But I really liked when she started to get super professional and wasn’t a server anymore.

Excerpted from The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series. Copyright © 2022 by Jessica Radloff. Reprinted with permission of Grand Central Publishing. All rights reserved.

A version of this article originally appeared on GLAMOUR's US site.