The Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco has opened up about the equestrian accident that almost resulted in her losing her leg.
In September 2010, the actor was riding at a ranch in LA when she fell off her horse, which then landed on her left leg, leading to Kaley being rushed to hospital.
In a Vanity Fair book excerpt from the “The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series” by Jessica Radloff, Kaley and her co-stars recalled the accident - and the grim possibility that she faced losing her leg.
“Before I went into surgery, they made me sign something that said, ‘We don’t know until we get in there and see this leg, and it could come out that you don’t have it anymore,’” she said in the excerpt.
“That wasn’t the case, obviously, but I had to sign something that said, ‘OK, you can,’” Kaley added.
“Everything ended up fine, and I was up and working a week later, but the doctors acted like I was never going to walk again. It’s still too much for me to go into, and it sounded way worse than it was. And of course it was spiraling and everyone was freaking out, which I get. It scared people.”
Big Bang Theory creator and producer Chuck Lorre added that the accident was “the darkest, most frightening time in all twelve years [of the show].”
“Kaley could have lost her leg,” he said. “It was a series of miracles that allowed us to get through that and for her to come out the other end of that healthy.’
Luckily for Kaley, surgeons only needed to insert two metal bars in her leg. As a result she was written out of two episodes of the hugely popular US comedy before returning to work.
Kaley previously discussed the accident with Ellen DeGeneres shortly after it happened and said her foot was facing the opposite way and was “just dangling.”
After 12 seasons and countless awards, The Big Bang Theory came to an end in 2019.