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Kaley Cuoco announced her engagement to actor Tom Pelphrey this month, which surprised fans. The Big Bang theory actress has frequently said she’d never get married again. She tied the knot twice, to Ryan Sweeting and Karl Cook.
In 2018, after divorcing Sweeting and during her second engagement, she told Cosmopolitan, “I honestly thought I wouldn’t get married again. My ex ruined that word for me. I married someone the first time who completely changed. The person I ended up with was not the person I originally met. And that wasn’t my fault—that was his. I knew how much I had to give and how much I wanted to receive.”
After she and Cook divorced, she told Glamour in 2022, “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. You can literally put that on the cover.”
But she was open to love again.
“I do believe there is someone out there. I love love. I’m not someone that wants to be by myself,” Cuoco added. “I just need to figure out my priorities a little bit and make sure now I know that I need to water that relationship.”
The time came very soon after. Here’s everything to know about Kaley Cuoco’s fiancé Tom Pelphrey.
Who is Tom Pelphrey?
Pelphrey grew up in New Jersey and went on to receive a BFA in Acting from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Pelphrey even traveled to study Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre in London. He had been a working actor for many years, starting in the CBS soap opera Guiding Light. The role won him two Daytime Emmys. He became much more famous in the drama series Ozark, playing Ben Davis.
He told W Magazine, “I don’t know that I always wanted to be an actor, but when I was 14 years old, I had a high school acting teacher, Steve Kazakoff, who changed my life. From the moment I met him, I wanted to be an actor. I went to a public high school in New Jersey, and it just so happened that the school had a magnet performing-arts program. I auditioned for the school musical my freshman year on a whim, even though I couldn’t sing or dance. And I still can’t.”
Pelphrey also admitted that he never watched Cuoco’s most famous show.
“Never. Matter of fact, when I first brought Kaley to New Jersey to meet my family and friends, my mom’s partner—who apparently was a Big Bang Theory fan—was there, and he kept calling her Penny,” he explained. “I had no clue what was going on. So I pulled Kaley aside, like, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t understand what’s happening. Why does he keep calling you Penny?’ She’s like, ‘That’s my character in The Big Bang Theory.’ I was completely unaware. I’ve watched a few episodes with her since, and, obviously, she’s fantastic.”
He added, “I hadn’t seen Kaley in anything. Look, I live in a cave. Before I met Kaley, I was living in upstate New York, on a dirt road, in the middle of the woods, without much Wi-Fi. She’s brought me into modern times.”
He also shared a bit about his zodiac sign, saying, “My birthday is July 28. I’m a Leo. I am a Libra rising and a Scorpio moon. My daughter shares two of my three signs. She’s not a Leo. She’s an Aries sun, but she is Leo moon and Libra rising, just like me.”
How did Cuoco and Pelphrey meet?
In an interview with USA Today, Cuoco said they went on a date set up by her manager Andrea Pett-Joseph at the Ozark premiere.
“She’s like, ‘Oh my God, I think you guys are perfect for each other,’” she said. “I heard his voice, and I turned around, and it was like my life was over, or just starting. It hit me. It was love at first sight. We were immediately connected. I do feel like I’ve known him my whole life, but I wasn’t ready for him. We’re ready to build a life together.”
How long have they been together?
After that special date in 2022, their relationship took off quickly. Their daughter was born a year later. In August 2024, she announced their engagement on her Instagram Stories, sharing a video of herself and Pelphrey and her ring, writing, “What a wild, beautiful journey life can be. Grateful for every road that led me straight to you.”
Do they have any children?
The couple welcomed their daughter Matilda in 2023 and they say they’d like to have more.
“We did a lot in two years. We met, we fell madly in love, we had this beautiful baby. We’re very blessed and very lucky. It was a meant-to-be situation. The timing was right,” Cuoco said to ET in October 2023. “Because of this downtime, which has been so hard for so many, we’ve been able to experience with Matilda, you know, from every moment, so him and I have been here for every moment pretty much since the day she was born and that’s special.”
In 2024, Pelphrey shared on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show With Julia Cunningham that having a kid changed his perspective on life.
“There’s no way to understand what it’ll feel like until you get to feel it. It’s wild. It’s the greatest thing I’ve ever got to experience. I know Kaley feels the same way,” he said. “It’s also hilarious. It can be exhausting at times. It’s all the good things.”
He continued, “The baby comes and suddenly without putting any conscious thought into it, you check back in with yourself and you realize your entire list of priorities has been completely rearranged and suddenly you’re thinking and concerned about things that maybe never really concerned you before. And it’s all about them and it’s a really beautiful experience.”
Have they started planning their wedding?
A source told People that since the engagement, life “has been a whirlwind of happiness” for the couple.
“She’s super happy with Tom,” the insider said. “Her daughter is such a light. Kaley loves being a mom. For years, her main focus was work. To now focus on her family instead, makes her thrive. Getting married hasn’t been a priority until now…Kaley’s thrilled to be engaged. You know she’ll plan the most gorgeous wedding. And it will be even more special now when her daughter can be part of it.”
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.