Kaley Cuoco could just as well be described as the real-life counterpart to Penny, her eternally beloved character from The Big Bang Theory. Despite all the ups and downs in her life and the struggles she goes through mostly without letting others know, she always tries her best to help everyone else meet their needs.

But even Cuoco couldn’t hide the fact that she was so completely broken and traumatized by an incident in her life that made her realize she couldn’t make it through on her own: her divorce from her second husband. If anything, this was so severe that even the experience of enduring countless heartbreaks as her iconic character in TBT didn’t help her cope with the pain.

Kaley Cuoco’s separation from Karl Cook traumatized her

There are very few people who embody a character so perfectly that their names are used synonymously with their respective iconic roles, and yet Kaley Cuoco effortlessly makes it onto this list. Just like Penny in TBBTShe is as friendly and helpful as one of the most approachable people who ever lived – even though she herself is battling a serious illness.

However, her divorce from her second husband, Karl Cook, was an incident that she did not like enough to carry on with her daily life without anyone knowing that she was suffering. Although they claimed there was “no anger or hostility, quite the opposite” In her statement shared with PEOPLE, Cuoco was still as heartbroken as ever.

While she was still trying to deliver her best show on set while working on The flight attendant Soon after, the 38-year-old beauty realized that this was not an incident that she could handle on her own. If anything, it left her with such severe scars that she soon had to “Trauma” while I try to overcome everything.

During a candid Zoom interview with Glamour, the 8 simple rules Star came out with the truth and said:

I’m so capable and strong and take on so many things. But this was the first time I’d ever been faced with something where I thought: I can’t do this alone. And I was just fine with telling my team because… (usually) I can hide things. I tried to hold everything (and everyone) together.

It turns out that even all the heartache she experienced on set as Penny – be it all the rejections she received or the times she was cheated on and had her heart broken (even by Leonard, yes) – didn’t really help Cuoco as she tried to deal with the “Trauma” the end of that one relationship brought her down. But even then, she did not let herself be discouraged and eventually sought solace in therapy.

Kaley Cuoco finally found solace in therapy

Of course, dealing with rejection and heartbreak is incredibly difficult, and even Cuoco admits she couldn’t get through it without help. As it turns out, she decided to find a healthy way to deal with her feelings and stuck with therapy to finally free herself from all the mental and physical stress that this traumatizing turn of events had put on her.

In her 2022 interview with Glamour, she further confessed:

My therapist and I are working on forgiveness and forgiving myself for my mistakes. I think the hardest part is just accepting that I’m normal and not superwoman. I highly recommend therapy to anyone out there. Even if your life is going really well. I can’t imagine life without therapy.

On her journey to forgive and improve, Kaley Cuoco also realized that she did not want “get married again” ever, although they “I would be happy to have a stable relationship or partnership.” However, she seems to have already found her way back into love, considering how happy she is with her current partner and “Soulmate,” I’m Tom Pelphrey.

You can stream The Big Bang Theory on Hulu.