At Thursday’s Los Angeles premiere of “based on a True Story,” I asked Kaley Cuoco what’s the closest she’s ever been to a crime — because she stars in the new Peacock series as a woman who ends up in the middle of a murder investigation because she is obsessed with true crime stories.
Without missing a beat, Cuoco said, “Scandoval.”
The “Big Bang Theory” star said she’s been a “Vanderpump Rules” fan since the first season. Like so many viewers, she was “shocked” when it was revealed that Tom Sandoval was cheating on his girlfriend of 10 years, Ariana Madix, with her best friend, Raquel Leviss.
“What the fuck, man?” Cuoco said. “I had no idea.”
She reached out to Madix on Instagram. “I slid into her DMs,” Cuoco said. “I’m Instagram friends with some of them.”
Does she want Sandoval and Leviss to return for another season? “They’re dead to me,” Cuoco said, before adding with a laugh, “I’m acting like it’s something that happened to me.”
She continued, “I don’t think Raquel is going to get a warm welcome back. Would I mind seeing her on the show? Absolutely not. But I want what Ariana wants. If she’s comfortable with it then I’m comfortable with it.”
Again, Cuoco laughed, “I act like she’s my best friend.”
Cuoco got so caught up in #Scandovol that she took out some of her feelings on her fiancé Tom Pelphrey. “I was immediately mad at him for like two weeks because his name is Tom,” she recalled. “He was like, ‘Don’t be mad at me!’ I was like, ‘Don’t be named Tom!’”
Cuoco showed her support for Madix after the Season 10 finale of “VPR” aired in May. She wrote in an Instagram story, “@arianamadix I❤️you and so does everyone else!!!”
The finale ratings were a series-high with a combined audience of 4.1 million viewers on Bravo, on-demand and Peacock within three days of its May 17 airing.“It’s hard,” producer Alex Baskin told me at the time. “There’s a human cost, not just a joyous celebration where we can send a note out to the cast and celebrate how well we’re doing.”
NBC has launched an Emmys campaign for the series, even hosting an FYC panel with Baskin and Lisa Vanderpump, moderated by CNN’s S.E. Cupp.
