Kaley Cuoco goes for a stroll on the sand at Malibu Beach Inn wearing a Michael Kors collection look with David Yurman and Shay jewelry.
Photographed by Irvin Rivera and styled by Brad Goreski
Kaley Cuoco already knew it takes a village to raise a child. Now she knows it can take a village to travel with one.
The three-time Emmy-nominated star of The Flight Attendant and The Big Bang Theory is mom to 1-year-old daughter Matilda — in addition to many fur babies — with her partner, actor Tom Pelphrey. But she’s yet to travel solo with her newborn.
“I see people doing it and I am in awe of them,” she admits. “But I want as many hands on deck as possible.” Even then, she notes, it’s all about “how many snacks you can pack in that frickin’ diaper bag.” (And by “snacks,” she means ones for the entire caravan, human and canine.)
Any semblance of parenting rules go out the window, too. Cuoco laughs as she recalls that Matilda’s first taste of ice cream was on an airplane when the flight attendant was serving sundaes, and that “her headphones are turned on [to] whatever she wants to watch. Like, it’s a constant battle of just keeping her entertained.”
That’s perhaps why Cuoco seized the opportunity to take her own minibreak, flying from Philadelphia, where Pelphrey is working for a few months, to spend a night by herself at the Malibu Beach Inn. “It’s a Malibu staple,” she says. “Very charming, intimate.”
Cuoco lounges in her room at Malibu Beach Inn wearing Versace and David Yurman jewelry.
Photographed by Irvin Rivera and styled by Brad Goreski
How did she indulge? “I went to bed early,” she says. “I got to watch the TV I wanted and did a face mask. I think it’s important to take those couple of days away for yourself.”
Having grown up in Ventura County’s Camarillo — and on Hollywood sets like that of the John Ritter sitcom 8 Simple Rules — Cuoco is “a California girl from Day One. No matter where I go in the world, this will always be the place I want to be,” she says. She also loves how Los Angeles can still surprise her (she just discovered Topanga’s rustic, wellness-forward restaurant, Inn of the Seventh Ray). But even date night can have routines.
“If we want to have a super-fancy, ridiculous night out, we’ll go to Craig’s, which is my favorite restaurant in L.A.,” she says of the West Hollywood institution. “But I’ve also been going to the same California Pizza Kitchen for literally 25 years.”
Even if Cuoco doesn’t have a lot of time for long vacations, there’s a good chance she may have helped plan one of yours. She’s been a spokesperson for Priceline.com for more than a decade, appearing in Super Bowl spots and all over the budget travel company’s website — sometimes even subliminally, if unintentionally. (She was not involved in Priceline’s decision to name its generative AI-powered travel assistant “Penny,” which the company says was done not as an homage to her Big Bang character but because it wanted a “P”-word that matched its brand’s and would reinforce its affordable-travel ethos.)
“That’s where most people recognize me [from] — my voice!” she jokes of the association with Priceline, a service she likes because of how user-friendly it is. “I love what they stand for. They are just for the normal, regular everyday traveler.”
Cuoco is a spokesperson for Priceline.com, which helps users find affordable vacations.
Courtesy of Priceline
She has put that distinct voice to good use with her other endeavors. Passionate about animals — she owns a ranch and rescue farm in Southern California called Big Bay City — Cuoco launched the all-natural and affordable dog food company Oh Norman! in 2023 and plans to grow the brand into other categories for pets. She appears in viral marketing for the products, speaking directly to the camera and always dressed in a no-frills, no-bull manner.
Products incorporate her frequent not-suitable-for-work language habits with names like Stop Effing Itching! (a liquid supplement) and Clean the Eff Up! (body and paw wipes) while proceeds support rescue organizations.
Cuoco was inspired by the philanthropic work that fellow former child star Jessica Alba has done with her beauty- and baby-focused Honest Co. and thought pets was a good fit. “I love animals more than anything in the world,” she says.
Onscreen post-Big Bang, she’s also found a niche in work that makes light of things that would otherwise terrify us. She has Emmy nominations for producing and starring in the trippy Max thriller The Flight Attendant (she plays a single woman who’s an alcoholic and is trying to solve murders while also trying to keep herself from being murdered). And she puts that recognizable larynx to use as the voice of the titular foulmouthed good girl gone bad in the R-rated Max animated series about the Batman villain, Harley Quinn.
Ever since 2017, when Cuoco started her production company, Yes, Norman Productions, people frequently ask what kind of projects she’s interested in. But, she isn’t looking for anything specific. “I just want to work and to play these really fun, wild and a little dark characters,” she says. “I’m loving that wave of comedy and drama. That’s a new genre that the business has created.”
Cuoco stars with Chris Messina in Peacock’s "Based on a True Story."
By Erica Parise/ Peacock
She currently stars as Ava Bartlett in the Peacock series Based on a True Story, which premiered in June and has been renewed for a second season. Ava, a Los Angeles-based real estate agent and hardcore true-crime junkie, and her friends meet to chat about serial killers over wine like they’re members of a demented book club. Ava has (or thinks she has) the granular knowledge she and her husband Nathan (Chris Messina) need when they partner on a podcast with Tom Bateman’s Matt, a new friend and also probably a serial killer known as the Westside Ripper.
Playing Ava required little research beyond Cuoco’s normal routines.
“I’m addicted to Dateline, which I watch every single night before bed,” she says unabashedly, almost proudly.
How does Cuoco manage to fall asleep after being so engrossed in such horrific tales of violence? Pelphrey wonders that, too. But it might just be part of his wife’s DNA.
“I used to watch [television] with my mom during naptime,” she explains of her childhood ritual with her mother, Layne Ann Cuoco. “She’d go, ‘If you come in bed and calm down so we can have a nap, I’ll turn on Unsolved Mysteries.’ She had this tiny TV [in her room] … and I would watch with her and take a nap.”
It’s still too early to tell if this obsession will continue to the next generation. Just don’t judge Cuoco’s parenting if you catch her indulging at an airport lounge with Matilda in tow.
Cuoco with the Louis Vuitton Rolling Trunk in Monogram
Photo by Irvin Rivera, styled by Brad Goreski
Photographed by Irvin Rivera
Styled by Brad Goreski
Hair: Marilee Albin
Makeup: Jamie Greenberg
Manicurist: Caroline Cotton
Digi Tech: Phil Limprasertwong
Stylist Assistant: Nick Segodi
Photo Assistants: Jesse Zapatero, Joseph Adivari
