The Big Bang Theory has been a massive fan favorite for years. Even after ending its run in 2019, it continues to win hearts thanks to the spectacular performance that Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Simon Helberg, and Kunal Nayyar delivered as the leads in the series by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. And interestingly enough, these awkward characters actually stemmed from real-life people.
A majority of Parsons’ Sheldon Cooper’s attributes stem from a person that showrunner Lorre knew back in the ’80s. But what’s surprising is that one of these awkward qualities originally decided for Cooper actually ended up transferring to Nayyar’s Raj Koothrappali. This was the very unhealthy stereotype Koothrappali sported throughout the series: Not being able to talk around women.
Kunal Nayyar’s Unhealthy Quality in TBBT was Supposed to be Jim Parsons’
As fans of the blockbuster saga already know, one of Kunal Nayyar‘s character’s most unhealthy traits in the series is that he goes quiet as soon as a woman walks into the room, almost as if her presence is driving him uncomfortable. If anything, Raj Koothrappali is one character who is simply not able to talk around women.
As it turns out, this trait has been derived from “a computer programmer, that was actually like that,” whom co-showrunner Bill Prady knew and worked with back in the ’80s. Apparently, this real-life person, who also inspired a lot of traits that can be seen in Sheldon Cooper throughout the series, suffered from this very stereotype.
During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the showrunner duo, Prady and Lorre, opened up extensively about the same. As per what Prady admittedly said:
That attribute actually belonged to the fellow who had most of Sheldon’s attributes as well. Somehow, in our discussions, that moved out of the Sheldon character and into Raj.
Concurring with Prady’s statement, Lorre revealed how “we created two characters out of that one guy.” This means that while this person was supposed to influence this very characteristic for Jim Parsons‘ character in the smash hit series, he instead ended up inspiring this trait for Koothrappali’s character.
Moreover, as it turns out, this stereotype is actually a “real thing.”
Raj’s Unhealthy Stereotype is Actually a “Real Thing”
During the same interview, Prady further elaborated on just how his computer programmer friend would behave around women, just like how Raj did in the series, saying:
It was a really interesting thing to watch because if we were talking and a woman came into the room, he would just stop talking. And then she would leave, and he would start talking again. Obviously, we started noticing it.
And, as it turns out, it wasn’t mere awkwardness around women that drove this trait in that person. Rather, it’s actually a “real thing,” as Prady admitted:
It’s a real thing, selective mutism. It’s an anxiety condition. He was just so anxious around women that his solution was to not talk.
Needless to say, this very thing was seen perfectly depicted by Nayyar as Koothrappali in the fan-favorite series.
But, at one point, Raj also starts to somewhat adjust to this and becomes more normal with each passing episode. How? Well, to put it simply, the reason behind this was Kaley Cuoco‘s Penny, as Lorre prefers to put it.
As Chuck Lorre explained this very point of view:
Penny is the one who cured Raj. She was the pivot point for all these characters. She was also the one who told Howard, ‘You’re not a ladies’ man… you’re disgusting.’ But she also introduced him to Bernadette. She impacted all these characters in such a major way.
Well, that is one hard unarguable fact, for Cuoco’s Penny most certainly was one of the most influential characters in the entire series, if not the most fan-favorite one.
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