Kaley Cuoco Jokes That One of Her Hairstyles During ‘Big Bang Theory’ Was Her Worst Decision

Her character, Penny, went from long blonde locks to a pixie cut in Season 8.

Kaley Cuoco attends the New York premiere of “Meet Cute,” a rom-com in which she stars alongside Pete Davidson.Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Big Bang Theory fans were shocked when Kaley Cuoco suddenly had a pixie cut at the start of Season 8. It makes sense that fans were upset after seven years of emotional attachment to Penny’s long blonde locks and no warning of the chop. 

Cuoco was preparing for her role in the independent film Burning Bodhi, and Penny’s hair had to be chopped. At the time, Cuoco thought the haircut wouldn’t be a huge deal and would actually save time during hair and makeup on set. 

“I don’t know if I was being rebellious,” Cuoco said in The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series, released on Oct. 11. “At that point we were heading into our eighth season and something needed to shake up. I was bored and sick of the hair.”

Kaley Cuoco was honored on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 2014.

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Turns out, it’s much harder to style a pixie cut than long hair—much to 36-year-old Cuoco’s surprise.

“I was like, This is the worst decision! What was I thinking?! I thought I was cutting it all off this time, because I hated going in and getting ready,” she said. “That’s why I was wearing my hair up so much in Season 6 and 7. So then I cut it and it ended up being more work because it wasn’t easy to style.”

Cuoco eventually grew to love her hair—or maybe it was just a learning curve in figuring out how to make it look good on camera. Either way, she says she “had fun with it” and didn’t pay much attention to the haters. After being in the industry for more than a decade, Cuoco learned how to navigate—or ignore—the opinions that don’t matter.

“Welcome to the business,” she added.

There was one opinion that did matter. Co-creator and executive producer Chuck Lorre wasn’t too thrilled with the cut, especially since he hadn’t been given a heads-up. It worked with the script, though, Cuoco said, as Penny was starting a new job as a pharmaceutical rep and the haircut was in line with the career change.

Kaley Cuoco arrives at the 30th Annual PaleyFest in 2013 in Beverly Hills, Calif.

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Jim Parsons, who played Sheldon on the 12-season sitcom, was quick to defend his co-star.

“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,” Parsons said. “At some point you just go, I’m going to do it and apologize later rather than ask permission.”