The big bang theory. The behind-the-scenes moment that led to Bernadette’s pregnancy

Sometimes sitcoms lean on pregnancy storylines as a crutch when they’re not quite sure where else to take the characters, but in all fairness to The Big Bang Theory, the show handled two pregnancy storylines pretty well. (One involving Penny Kaley Cuoco wasn’t quite as successful — and even Cuoco herself agrees.) However, according to the show’s creative team, the idea was that Bernadette Rostenkowski-Walowitz, played by Melissa Rauch, suddenly finds out that she and her husband Howard Walowitz (Simon Helberg) are having a baby quite a bit organically.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter after the episode “The Valentino Submergence” aired, host and executive producer Steve Molara told the publication about Bernadette’s discovery. In an episode set on Valentine’s Day, Bernadette and Howard are about to spend a romantic evening in their hot tub when they discover and rescue a baby rabbit in the bathtub, at which point Bernadette quietly reveals to the bunny that she is pregnant. According to Mollar, he made a joke about it – and then it made it into the episode.

“We touched on the idea of ​​Bernadette and Howard and the kids here and there, but we didn’t really have any plans to pull the trigger at any point,” Molara recalled. “It wasn’t even part of the plan for the episode. We were writing it and we were getting to the end of the story and I guess motherhood was in the air because Bernadette was holding this wrapped up bunny and they named him and we When we were writing the last page of this storyline I said, ‘What if Bernadette will say to the rabbit, “We’ll find another time to tell him I’m pregnant.” The room had such a strong, positive reaction to it, and we decided to post it. Because we didn’t have a plan, we felt it was very exciting what was going to happen, and maybe it was the time to do it, well sure, it makes sense.”

Based on the 2022 book The Big Bang Theory: The Ultimate Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series by Jessica Radloff. Both Simon Helberg and Melissa Rauch were worried about the idea of ​​Howard and Bernadette having a baby. — in that they were worried it would mess up the show’s dynamic — but thanks in large part to writer Maria Ferrari, the writers were able to come up with a phenomenal (and appropriate) storyline in which a pregnant Bernadette worries that not having a “maternal” instinct . In the season 10 episode “The Dependence Transcendence”, Bernadette confesses to best friend Raju Koothrappalli (Kunal Nayyar) to her and Howard that she worries she won’t be a good mother, and Rauch and Nayyar both felt it was incredibly real and raw.

“There was such pure honesty in everything she put into Bernadette,” Rauch said of Ferrari, recalling the time she went shopping for her real-life pregnancy and was overwhelmed by everything she needed to know. “I was on the verge of pure panic, ‘How am I going to figure this all out?!’ but then I thought about what Bernadette went through – and of course I know it’s fictional, but to see how in the end it all didn’t matter and Bernadette was a wonderful mother, it was comforting,” Rauch recalls. ” You find your own way with your own kids, so that was a lesson for me as a mom and something I took away from the show.”

“I really liked the unconventional ways in which we really approached relationships and themes, like when Bernadette said, ‘I don’t have a motherly instinct,'” Nayyar said of The Big Bang Theory’s approach to parenthood. “The viewers who were involved in that moment felt, Oh, I’m not crazy. Our harshest voice is our own, so when we realize that there are people who are embarrassed to admit that they can be parents, it’s like, “Okay, I’m not alone.” That’s why I love the show.”

After Bernadette gave birth to Halley and Howard’s on-screen daughter (named after a comet), the series made her journey into motherhood incredibly relatable — completely changing Bernadette’s appearance. According to Rauch and costume designer (and producer) Mary T. Quigley, they completely overhauled Bernadette’s tiny skirts and cardigans, realizing that no new mom would go back to such skin-tight outfits right after giving birth — and the show too revealed that Bernadette was indeed struggling with the newborn, providing another honest and real storyline for the character.

“After Bernadette gave birth, Mary and I talked a lot about Bernadette’s wardrobe,” Rauch said, even saying the experience made it easier for her to work on the show as a new mom. “I loved the episode when Bernadette was in that purple sweater and wondering what the hell was going on after giving birth. It started a conversation because we didn’t want to show an unrealistic example of how to go right back to being a mother. I I thought it would be a disservice to the mothers watching the show if I suddenly went back to tights and fitted cardigans (…) We wanted it to feel real, to reflect everything that Bernadette was going through and the hardships, which she faced as a new mother (…) And then when I had my own daughter and I was breastfeeding during rehearsals and recordings, I thought that wearing those tight dresses and cardigans. was hell for me, so I was really excited to get this new style for Bernadette.”

“It was really important for me and for her to show, no, you’re not a size zero a week after having a baby,” Quigley agreed. “I said, ‘How about we leave her like this?’ She doesn’t need to go back to sweaters and dresses because she’s progressed anyway. She is a mother. She still looked great, but we didn’t want her to look perfect all the time.” Rauch, for his part, loved it: “It was real. That’s what you look like.”

The Big Bang Theory is now streaming on Max.