Actress Kaley Cuoco reveals she never wanted kids until meeting her husband

"Then when we met, it was instantaneous"

Kaley Cuoco and Tom Pelphrey
(Image credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

Kaley Cuoco has revealed how she never wanted to have kids until she met her husband Tom Pelphrey - then the desire was 'instantaneous'.

Speaking to Emmy Magazine two months after she welcomed her daughter, Cuoco revealed, “This [having a baby] was not a goal of mine. As a young girl I dreamed of it, but I became involved in my career. Then when we met, it was instantaneous—‘Oh, my God, I want to have a kid with you.’

“We both wanted it so badly, which was not what I thought my life would be. I love my career and wanted to just keep living my life. But Tom came along, and something changed. We’re not 20, so we felt like we probably couldn’t wait too long. Then we got so blessed—it happened right away.”

And when she says 'it happened right away' she's not exaggerating. Kaley and Tom met last year [2022] at a party for Pelphrey’s hit series Ozark. In May of the same year they took their relationship public and, just five months later, Cuoco announced that she was pregnant with her first child

Announcing the birth of their daughter, who has the sweetest movie-inspired baby name, Kaley shared on Instagram, "3-30-23 Introducing, Matilda Carmine Richie Pelphrey, the new light of our lives! 

"We are overjoyed and grateful for this little miracle. Thank you to the doctors, nurses, family and friends who have helped us immensely over the last few days. We are blessed beyond belief Tom Pelphrey didn’t think I could fall even more in love with you, but I did."

Elsewhere in the interview, the actress shared her belief that her daughter will grow up and follow in both her's and Tom's footsteps, likely becoming an actor herself. “It’s in her genes," she said. "I don’t know how she won’t [become an actor]. The child already thinks she’s the star of everything.”

Just a month before announcing her relationship with Tom, Kaley told Glamour that while she still believes in love, she will 'never get married again.' The actor has been married twice before, first to Ryan Sweeting from 2013 to 2016 and then to Karl Cook from 2018 to 2021. 

Speaking about her love life, Kaley said, "I will never get married again. I would love to have a long-lasting relationship or a partnership. But I will never get married again. Absolutely not. 

"But I believe in love because I’ve had incredible relationships. I know that they’re out there. I like being someone’s partner and having that companionship. We’ve all been there where you think, Oh, my God, I’m never going to meet someone else. And you do. There are great people that come into your life and they leave your life. And there are reasons for all of it. The minute that I agree to let it go, someone else magical comes into my life. So I do believe there is someone out there.

"I love love. I’m not someone that wants to be by myself. I just need to figure out my priorities a little bit and make sure now I know that I need to water that relationship. It’s like a plant. Sometimes I get too focused on the garden instead of the specific plant that needs to be watered. And I am well aware of that. I want to change, I want to be better."

Charlie Elizabeth Culverhouse
Royal News and Entertainment writer

Charlie Elizabeth Culverhouse is royal news and entertainment writer for Goodto.com. She began her freelance journalism career after graduating from Nottingham Trent University with an MA in Magazine Journalism, receiving an NCTJ diploma, and earning a First Class BA (Hons) in Journalism at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute. She has also worked with BBC Good Food and The Independent.