The Real Life Partners Of The Big Bang Theory Cast

Everyone's favorite sitcom about four geeky scientists and the hot neighbor across the hall sure did have a lot of physics jokes, and it also had a lot of heart. "The Big Bang Theory," which took home a total of 10 Emmy Awards during in its 12-year run, charmed audiences with its heavy supply of scientific gags and nerdy romances: from the unlikely pairing of Leonard and Penny, to Sheldon meeting his match in equally awkward genius Amy Farrah Fowler. It's no wonder that the CBS show went on to exceed "Cheers" in number of episodes, inspired the spinoff series "Young Sheldon," and took its place in television history among legendary shows like "Friends."

With the show scoring its leads $1 million an episode by the eleventh season in 2017, it's safe to say the cast went through some pretty big lifestyle changes by the time the series went off-air. Everything ended happily ever after for the characters in the finale, but how have their actual love lives fared? Here are the real life partners of "The Big Bang Theory" cast.

Following his breakup with Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki found love with model Alaina Meyer. While their meet-cute is unknown, the pair reportedly became serious quickly, despite Meyer being 22 years younger than her boyfriend. They began posting photos of each other to social media in July 2018 and made things Instagram official that September when Galecki shared a sweet snap of himself looking into his girlfriend's eyes. In the caption, he gushed, "Last night was wonderful." Jump to December when they found themselves having to clear up engagement rumors after the actor posted a photo where both were visibly wearing bands on their ring fingers. Meyer set the record straight by sharing the same pic and writing, via People, "#notmarried."

While they never tied the knot, they did take their relationship to the next level when they had their first child together, Avery Orbison, in December 2019. "With full and grateful hearts we welcome our beautiful son into this incredible world," Galecki wrote on Instagram.

Unfortunately, the pair split in November 2020, with a source telling the outlet that co-parenting was a key priority for the exes. Indeed, the actor's Instagram page continues to be filled with images of him and Orbison enjoying life together, attending a My Chemical Romance show, going to Walt Disney World, and even riding on dad's bike. On New Year's Eve in 2021, Galecki posted a sweet message to his son, calling him "my best friend."

While starring on "The Big Bang Theory," Jim Parsons never addressed his exuality outright, but, in 2012, he casually confirmed to The New York Times he was gay and in a 10-year relationship. In 2020, he explained to The Hollywood Reporter, "I was scared enough to make it my mission not to talk about it." He elaborated, "I was scared that it might cause trouble, quote unquote, for our big television show."

In fact, everything did change — for the better — following his admission. "Once it was out officially, I felt a sense of ownership over it," he recalled. "I felt like a more participatory member of the community." Indeed, he and his longtime partner, graphic designer Todd Spiewak, received GLESN's Inspiration Award the following year. "I've never considered my relationship with Todd to be an act of activism," Parsons mused on stage, per E! News. "Rather simply, it's an act of love..."

Interestingly, the two hadn't planned to get married, but, in May 2017, they tied the knot after almost 15 years together. "We just didn't care about the act of it that much," Parsons told Stephen Colbert, adding that, in the end, he was swayed by the idea of hosting a big party and making their union legal. In 2022, he told Today their secret to 20 years of happiness: "Since the beginning, there's been a real respect for each other, as far as career desires, life desires."

Kaley Cuoco had her fair share of public splits before finding Mr. Right. After a broken engagement to Josh "Lazie" Resnik in 2012, she married tennis player Ryan Sweeting in 2013. The pair had only dated for three months when they got engaged. By 2015, they filed for divorce after just 21 months of marriage. As Cuoco later told Cosmopolitan, their union was too rushed. "The person I ended up with was not the person I originally met," she shared. "That wasn't my fault — that was his."

The failed union put her off marriage, and she was certain she wouldn't walk down the aisle again. Jump to 2018 when she said "I do" to equestrian Karl Cook whom she met at a horse show in 2016. "It was very meant to be," she told The Talk (via ET). Unfortunately, their union didn't last either, and they split in 2021. In a joint statement to People, the couple explained, "We have realized that our current paths have taken us in opposite directions."

Cuoco finally met Mr. Right in April 2022 when her manager introduced her to fellow actor Tom Pelphrey. "It was love at first sight," she told USA Today. "We were immediately connected." Indeed, in March 2023, they introduced their daughter, Matilda Carmine Richie Pelphrey, to the world. "@tommypelphrey didn't think I could fall even more in love with you, but I did," Cuoco gushed on Instagram.

On "The Big Bang Theory," Simon Helberg portrayed the slightly neurotic and constantly hilarious Howard Wolowitz, an aerospace engineer who eventually ties the knot with microbiologist Bernadette Rostenkowski. Helberg has been equally successful in his off-screen romantic life, marrying actress Jocelyn Towne in 2007. The happy couple has two children together: a son named Wilder, born in 2014, and an older daughter named Adeline.

Helberg and Towne brought the story of their romantic start to the big screen in 2014's "We'll Never Have Paris," which Helberg wrote and the two co-directed. "It's my story, when I was somewhat young and in the midst of a quarter-life crisis: I break up with the love of my life and then realize I've made a huge mistake and try to win her back," Helberg told "Fade In" of the film. "We decided what a weird, poetic, kind of masochistic, perverse thing would it be for us to direct the story of our break-up now, as a happily married couple." The film follows Helberg, who plays the character based on himself, as he travels to Paris to win back his high school sweetheart, portrayed by Melanie Lynskey.

Raj Koothrappali might have ended up single after a series of failed relationships on "The Big Bang Theory," but actor Kunal Nayyar has been luckier on the romantic front. In 2012, he married Neha Kapur, a former Miss India, in a traditional Indian wedding in New Delhi in front of a thousand guests. Although Nayyar admitted to People in 2015 that the two were "very private," he shared the story of how a "nerdy guy came to marry a beautiful former Miss India" in his 2015 book "Yes, My Accent Is Real." Nayyar revealed that his cousin set the two of them up while he was home visiting New Delhi in 2008. "There was something beautiful about the rawness of her emotion," Nayyar recounted in his book, per People. "I had known her for two hours, and I was getting hooked."

Following their wedding, Kapur moved to Los Angeles from India where the couple bought a gorgeous 5000-square-foot home which they decorated as "an amalgamation of the country [they] live in and the country [they're] from," according to Architectural Digest. Kapur currently works as a fashion designer and model, having founded luxury brand Hensley in 2016. Kapur and Nayyar put their luxurious home on the market for a cool $3.995 million in 2020 after purchasing a home previously owned by Nicolas Cage a year earlier.

Like her "Big Bang Theory" on-screen husband Simon Helberg, Melissa Rauch is married to one of her favorite collaborators: writer Winston Rauch (née Beigel). Melissa and Winston met in college where they started working together. The two wrote Melissa's hit one-woman stage show "The Miss Education of Jenna Bush," a parody about George W. Bush's daughter, leading to their subsequent move to Los Angeles and her spot on "Big Bang." The two married in 2007 before Rauch hit it big, with Winston taking his wife's surname. "I am very fortunate that I met my husband in college," Melissa told New Jersey Monthly in 2014. "The only thing I regret is not meeting him even sooner, as my life has just gotten better since he came into it." The two co-wrote 2015's gritty gymnastics comedy "The Bronze," starring Melissa as a vulgar former medalist, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

The couple have a daughter called Sadie and a son named Brooks. Melissa has been extremely candid about her experience as a mother, appearing in a 2017 PSA supporting women who have suffered miscarriages and writing about her own pregnancy loss in Glamour. The actor penned another essay for Glamour on her experience giving birth alone during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, revealing that her husband "joined on FaceTime" alongside the nurses and doctor who "ultimately made [her] feel safe and protected."

Mayim Bialik was married to her college sweetheart, businessman Michael Stone, for nearly a decade before their 2012 split. They met in class while attending grad school at UCLA and wed in 2003. Son Miles arrived soon after in 2005, followed by Frederick in 2008. After their divorce, the couple vowed to master co-parenting. "Our sons deserve parents committed to their growth and health and that's what we are focusing on," Bialik wrote on her blog (via The U.S. Sun). Indeed, the pair even continued taking family vacations together, and, as the actor told Us Weekly, she never has anything bad to say about Stone. "A lot of people don't realize the impact of even subtle comments," she mused. "I spend a lot of time building my ex up for my boys." Not that it's been easy. As she admitted on YouTube in 2018, "The emotional carnage of divorce is always there."

Even so, she's remained open to love. After experiencing a breakup during the 2018 holiday season, she began dating Jonathan Cohen whom she met 10 years earlier. Bialik confirmed their union to Forbes in 2021, noting, "My partner Jonathan and I have a shared passion for mental illness and mental illness education" — so much so that they started their own podcast that January called "Mayim Bialik's Breakdown." Cohen is also a parent (he has one son) and a writer, poet, and co-founder of a mindfulness and wellness app.

Forever wasn't in the cards for Laura Spencer's "Big Bang Theory" character Emily Sweeney and Raj. Although Spencer's character was notably absent from the series after their split in Season 10, Spencer has nothing but good things to say about her time on the show. "I'll never forget it, my first scene on my first episode back when I got to walk on set with the live audience and hear the applause of everybody seeing my character in the living room," she told The Wrap in 2014. "It just means something. It's like, 'Wow, you made it onto Sheldon's couch.'"

Still, the "Bones and The Lizzie Bennet Diaries" actress has plenty to be thankful for in real life. In January 2019, she married Michael Greenwald, according to her Instagram. At the ceremony, the two performed an adorable "fully choreographed dance routine" to "All I Want For Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey. They're currently happy dog parents to two pooches, Annie and Gertie, and never miss an opportunity for a cutesy social media moment, reciting Shel Silverstein poems together for Spencer's nephews online. How's that for puppy love?!