Kaley Cuoco Name Drops Rude Actress Who Snubbed Her On TV Set

Kaley Cuoco didn’t get the warmest reception from Rose McGowan when she joined Charmed in 2005.

The Big Bang Theory actress, 40, spoke candidly about her experience on the eighth and final season of the WB drama during the Feb. 9 episode of Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, admitting to the actor, 51, and his co-host, Monica Padman, 38, that it was a “dicey” introduction.

“You know when you do so many things, and you just forget about terrible moments?” she asked, continuing, “Imagine this: I’ve never met anyone…new photos with the cast… I’m the new girl.”

“You’ve got Alyssa Milano, Rose McGowan, and Holly Marie Combs. I’ve never met them. Think about that,” she added. “I’m joining their family photo, and I’m 21.”

Coming off the success of her ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules, Cuoco said she felt “the hottest I’ve ever been” and was thinking she was “the coolest thing ever.”

Nevertheless, Cuoco said she was “so freaking nervous” to have lunch with her new co-workers. Luckily, Milano, who started the series with Combs and Shannen Doherty back in 1998, was “so kind” in welcoming her that day.

“I walk in that gallery, and I am so freaking nervous. It’s on their lunch break. They’re all in the corners eating. I walk in, Alyssa Milano sees me, and — I will always tell this story about her — she got up, ran over to me ,and welcomed me the show, gave me the biggest hug in the world, so happy, so kind. I will never forget that,” Cuoco said.

It was a bit of a different story with McGowan, who joined Charmed in 2001 to replace Doherty after Season 3, following rumors of tension between Milano and Doherty.

“Rose [was] maybe not as happy. I don’t know,” Cuoco recalled. “I still don’t know if she likes me. I don’t know.”

“But Alyssa was amazing. I was terrified,” she continued. “It’s a weird thing coming into a show with them in year eight, and I only did the one season.”

The way Milano welcomed her into the Charmed family changed how Cuoco treated newcomers on her own sets moving forward in her career.

“Anyone that came in” to The Big Bang Theory, “I was very aware of, like, this must be so weird for you,” she shared. “So I always remembered that from Alyssa to this day. I was like that before, but still, you got to go the extra mile in a situation like that.”