The Big Bang Theory Prop That Haunts Kaley Cuoco

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If you've watched "The Big Bang Theory" in its entirety, you probably know what I'm talking about when I mention "the painting." On the massively popular CBS sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, Penny (Kaley Cuoco) is initially the only woman on the series, but in season 3, two more female leads join the cast: Mayim Bialik's Amy Farrah Fowler and Melissa Rauch's Bernadette Rostenkowski. Amy is immediately infatuated with and fascinated by Penny, and in the season 5 episode "The Rothman Disintegration," this comes to a head when Amy buys Penny an astonishingly large painting of them for no real occasion (it's ostensibly to "thank" Penny for being a good friend). When Amy unveils the painting, Penny is horrified, and apparently, Cuoco felt that way in real life too.

In a behind-the-scenes video filmed on the set of Penny's apartment featuring Cuoco and her co-star Johnny Galecki — who played Leonard Hofstadter, Penny's on-again, off-again boyfriend turned husband on "The Big Bang Theory" — Cuoco specifically mentioned the painting and her feelings towards it. "The Penny-Amy painting," she said. "We were laughing so hard it took us about a good two minutes so we could actually say the dialogue. We were just, like ... the tears were coming down. That painting will haunt me."

Elsewhere, in Jessica Radloff's 2022 book "The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series," Radloff and writer and executive producer Steve Molaro noted that the painting now lives on the lot named for Lorre at Warner Bros. in California. Molaro went on to say that he knows exactly how the painting came to be, and its backstory is perfect:

"I remember at the time, Robin [Green] and Kristy [Cecil], the line producers, called me and said it was getting made, and wanted to know if Penny should not look entirely happy in the picture. I don't think we had even figured that out, but since it was getting made, I was like, 'Sure, that seems funny.' And to me, the best part of this picture is this frozen, not-entirely-real half smile on Penny's face while Amy has this real smile. And Chuck knew that if we hung it on the fourth wall that the audience doesn't see, that it could be there but you'd never have to actually see it, which is where it ends up."

"I was very proud of that because I realized there's a wall in that apartment we never see that it could be hanging on forever," Lorre agreed. (Put a pin in that; I'll explain). Bialik and Cuoco also talked to Radloff about the painting, and they both recognized it for the true horror it is.

After Penny pretends that she loves Amy's gift — even though it's obviously horrible — and Amy tells her "I wanted to get you something you didn't have" — Amy immediately hangs the painting in Penny's apartment, and the damage is done. Bernadette sympathizes with Penny (and, just to add insult to injury, tells Penny the painting makes her look like a man), but after a girl's night, Penny tries to take the painting down in secret ... and is caught by a heartbroken Amy. The two eventually decide it's best if the painting lives above where Penny's television "would" be, which means the audience doesn't see it again (which is what Steve Molaro and Chuck Lorre referenced earlier). Amy also notes that the painting originally featured the two of them completely nude, in case everything wasn't weird enough.

"The size of it was definitely shocking the first time I saw it because it really is enormous," Mayim Bialik told Radloff in the book. "Kaley and I posed for some photos that the painter based it on, but my hand was not over her shoulder originally, so that was added in." Still, as Bialik revealed, she's not sure that the photos they used were, let's say, accurate: "But for whatever reason, if you look super close, it definitely doesn't look like a woman's hand. It's certainly not my hand. And so every time I look at it, all I can see is this giant hand!"

"It was so horrible, it was great!" Cuoco exclaimed. "The whole episode was so exceptionally written. I remember Melissa [Rauch] and I staring at it in a scene, and the audience was screaming. It was so outrageous that in one take, I cried."

"I was cry-laughing which was a different emotion than I expected," Cuoco continued, saying that her emotions simply got the best of her as she took in this genuinely absurd prop. "I didn't rehearse that. It was just a priceless moment when Amy gives it to Penny and then Penny is so devastated that it ends up making her cry. I really feel like that's the audience holding us and taking us to another level, and I don't know if I'll have that experience again."

As far as Chuck Lorre was concerned, the painting that Amy gives Penny is perfect on several levels. "The actual painting couldn't have made me happier because it showed you Penny's discomfort and Amy's absolute joy of being with her friend," Lorre laughed in Jessica Radloff's book. "She worshipped Penny. You can't look at it and not smile or laugh." Plus, as Lorre points out, the pose the two strike in the painting can have a sinister edge if you think about it: "And having Amy's hand on Penny's shoulder made it even more wonderful, because then it becomes, Is it my friend or is it my hostage?"

Still, as Lorre told Radloff, he thinks the girl crush turned friendship between Penny and Amy is one of the most special aspects of "The Big Bang Theory," largely because this is such a milestone for Amy in particular. "One of the best discoveries of the series was when Amy, who is a lonely character, found friendship and camaraderie with Penny, as well as Bernadette," Lorre mused.

Lorre went on to say that, in a way, Amy's love for her best friends Penny and Bernadette ended up being more impactful than the slow-burning romantic relationship Amy develops with Sheldon Cooper, the series lead played by Jim Parsons (Amy and Sheldon end up married by the end of the series). "She had women in her life that she loved and could talk to; she had never had that in her life prior," he continued. "Her falling in love with Penny and Bernadette may have been more important than falling in love with Sheldon because of how it deepened her character."

All good things must come to an end, though, and according to Steve Molaro, Amy's obsession with Penny became less prominent as she became more comfortable with her new friends. "It just faded away organically as things became more serious with Sheldon. There wasn't a choice to stop. It just didn't feel like it was a part of who she was, eventually, as she got more confident and grew as a person." The painting, however? That lives forever. "The Big Bang Theory" is streaming on HBO Max now.