With Luaine Lee:
Cuoco, who played John Ritter's datable daughter in the sitcom "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter ..." says, "I don't want to date an actor, it's so rough ... Believe me, I don't want to be involved with an actor because I know how they are. I am one. I know what it's like. Especially guys at a young age if they're in any way successful. Also I want to be with someone who's more successful than I am. I've had problems in the past being with guys who haven't had any success or haven't made as much money and it's very uncomfortable. It's horrible. You don't want to be rude and make them feel they can't do it. Ideally I'd like to date a writer, but they're a little weird too."
Cuoco was devastated when Ritter died suddenly of a heart malfunction three years ago. "I never had anyone pass away in my life, especially someone I adored to no end," she says, ordering dressing on the side for her salad. "He was like another parent....
... I just loved him more than anything. And it just made me grow up."
Based on a real incident, it has Cuoco playing a high school student who Though she's been acting for 15 years, the 21-year-old faced a nearly insurmountable challenge when she agreed to star in "To Be Fat Like Me," a Lifetime Original Movie premiering Jan. 8.
She goes undercover as a "fat girl," donning prosthetics to increase her girth to an ungainly 250 pounds. This is a real stretch for Cuoco, who's been a trim jock all her life. She was a nationally ranked tennis player, is fiercely competitive in her spinning and kickboxing classes and any other sport she's tried.
"I just got my first set of golf clubs and they're pink," she grins. "I'm pretty good at that. But I've given up tennis. The only thing I do now is charity. I don't enjoy it anymore. I've played since I could walk. I was over it - on to something else. I knew I was never going to be fantastic. I was good, loved it while I was playing. But it's not for me anymore. I don't even like watching it anymore."
She has two horses which she jumps competitively. "I ride at least five days a week when I'm not working, do racing and jumping. It's so much fun. I had a huge accident two years ago and fell off and broke my knee. I had a full leg cast, was on crutches, crushed my knee. I was in a wheel chair for a while. It still looks funny and still hurts two years later," she says.
Cuoco, whose dad is in beachfront real estate, grew up near Santa Barbara, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles. But she says her family kept moving closer to L.A. as she became more engrossed in her career. Finally she was making "8 Simple Rules ..." and driving an hour to work when she decided she needed to vacate the nest, though she was only 17.
So I got my first condo near Disney in Studio City and that was it, I was on my own. I didn't think I'd be scared, but that first night I cried the whole first night. My parents live 25 minutes from me and I'm there more than I'm home. I'm there more than my sister is, and she lives there. I have the best of both worlds."
She grew up in a conservative Christian family and says that background has helped her overcome the difficult times, including her hitch as a fat girl. "The first night I was in the fat suit the whole day I called my mom and was sobbing, crying. I said, I can't do it.' She just was a mom, Tomorrow you'll be fine.' She just listened to me sob, I can't. I can't. I can't.' Of course you can,' she said."
It took 3 1/2 hours to apply the prosthetics. "I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I'm a very claustrophobic, panic-attack type of person. So when I was in this thing it was a little rough. There wasn't a day when I didn't cry. Your mind plays tricks on you. You start to think, Oh, my God, I can't get out of this.' You can't move. You can't breathe. Then you start panicking and you have to really find that place. I had to go to a different place each time I was in that suit or I would've completely freaked out," says Cuoco, who's dressed in a strappy black leotard top, a lace vest, and black jeans. Her blonde hair is piled on top of her head in a haphazard bun only partially tamed by a headband.
Recently Cuoco bought her first house. "I have a fabulous new kitchen in my new home and never used it once," she says, slapping the top of the table. "It looks pretty, though. I cannot cook for the life of me. Mom doesn't cook. My dad's mom, one grandparent that is still alive, loves to cook. What is funny, I'm obsessed with the Food Network. It's the only thing on my Tivo, yet I can't cook. It makes me think I can."
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Title: Killer Movie
Title: Penthouse
Title: The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory: Season 1
8 Simple Rules: Season 1
Debating Robert Lee: DVD