Kaley Cuoco Says She Almost Had to Amputate Her Leg After Equestrian Accident: ‘It’s Still Too Much’

A miracle. Kaley Cuoco recalled a traumatic horseback riding accident that almost resulted in her leg being amputated. Since she came out of the major injury with her leg intact, her fellow cast and crew members consider the miracle “heaven sent.”

The starlet, 36, and her Big Bang Theory costars discussed the 2010 incident in The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series book, which was released on Tuesday, October 11. The show’s creator Chuck Lorre gave readers intimate details about the eventful day, deeming it as “the darkest, most frightening time in all twelve years [of the show].”

“Kaley could have lost her leg. It was a series of miracles that allowed us to get through that and for her to come out the other end of that healthy,” Chuck said. 

The Wedding Ringer star started riding horses at 15 and continued to compete in equestrian competitions through her adulthood and stardom. However, while riding in Los Angeles 10 years ago, she experienced a bad run with her horse threw her off and attempted to jump on top of her. The animal landed on her left leg, which created a giant open wound.

Luckily, Chuck ran into Dr. Stephen Lombardo, who got Kaley into an operating room two hours later. “It was an absolutely miraculous intervention that I ran into Dr. Steve,” he said. “Every time I see him, I say, ‘Thank you! You saved Kaley! On a lesser level, you saved The Big Bang Theory!'”

Kaley was put on hospital rest for two weeks after the surgery, which led her to miss two episodes of the hit CBS show. 

As for the California native, it’s still difficult to talk about the almost-life-threatening incident. “Before I went into surgery, they made me sign something that said, ‘We don’t know until we get in there and see this leg, and it could come out that you don’t have it anymore,’” she explained in the book.

“That wasn’t the case, obviously, but I had to sign something that said, ‘OK, you can.’ Everything ended up fine, and I was up and working a week later, but the doctors acted like I was never going to walk again,” Kaley continued. “It’s still too much for me to go into, and it sounded way worse than it was. And of course, it was spiraling, and everyone was freaking out, which I get. It scared people.”