Kaley Cuoco Opens Up About Being Mom-Shamed on a Plane: 'We Felt Extreme Anger'

Actress Kaley Cuoco, along with her partner, Tom Pelphrey, and their nine-month-old daughter, Matilda, faced an unfortunate experience while travelling for Thanksgiving 2023. The family of three was on a flight when a fellow passenger mom-shamed Kaley, leaving her extremely frustrated.

Kaley, known for her role in The Flight Attendant and now 38 years old, spoke about the incident while guesting on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday, January 9. She admitted that travelling with a baby was challenging. Kaley mentioned that her daughter couldn’t sleep without the aid of a sound machine, which they brought onto the airplane. After Matilda finally fell asleep, a flight attendant approached them.

“The flight attendant came to us and said a passenger has requested you to turn off the sound machine,” said Kaley on the late-night talk show. This request deeply upset Tom, who is 41 years old. “This request left us furious. After the landing, we found out the person who had complained was the woman sitting right in front of us,” Kaley added.

The woman mockingly remarked on seeing Matilda smile after the landing, prompting Kaley to joke, “That’s when I realized how women end up on Dateline. I could have choked her.”

The Big Bang Theory star and her Ozark-actor boyfriend had their first child together on March 30, 2023. Tom expressed his joy on Instagram, describing the event as a miracle and praising Kaley. The two have been successfully co-parenting Matilda, despite having drastically different parenting styles.

“I haven’t read a single parenting book, nor do I think I’ve sanitized anything. I’m not even sure I know how to sanitize something,” Kaley humorously shared with Jimmy, reassuring him their daughter was “fine.” In stark contrast, the Iron Fist actor, Tom, is the more cautious parent.

In a later part of the interview, Kaley recounted another uncomfortable incident at an airport when she attempted to engage with a couple who had a child close in age to Matilda. Kaley suggested they could watch TV with their kid during the flight, only to be told that they don’t allow their child to watch TV. This left Kaley perplexed as she had just let Matilda watch the first season of Succession. “So, are we not supposed to do that? I don’t understand,” she said.