Jim Parsons is opening up about his less-than-enjoyable time starring on the hit TV series The Big Bang Theory.
“I look back now and realize that there were many ways, at some of the best moments in my life, I was miserable,” Parsons, who played Sheldon Cooper in the hit show, said while appearing on All Out with Jon Dean earlier this week. “I was not happy. I was stressed.”
He continued of his experience, “I felt that there was so many plates I was supposed to be keeping in the air and that the success and the good things of life that were happening were only due to this overworking… discipline and whatever. Maybe, to a degree, that was true. I don’t know. I can’t say because that’s how I was.”
The Big Bang Theory ran for 12 seasons, originally airing on CBS for 12 years and ending on May 16, 2019. The show — which also starred Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Mayim Bialik, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar and Melissa Rauch – followed a group of best friend physicists working at the California Institute of Technology as they navigate friendship, awkward relationships and budding romances.
Parsons, 53, earned a Golden Globe and multiple Emmy awards for his work on the show. Despite his many accolades, however, the actor revealed that his mental health made it difficult for him to truly enjoy his success.
“I wouldn’t do that again and for any amount of money,” he said. “It was stressful and miserable at times. I made myself miserable.”
He added, “It translated in part into a work ethic, but it was really just obsessive behavior basically. Yes, I was disciplined. Yes, I had a good work ethic, but a lot of it was because it was kind of OCD in nature. I had a list of things basically in my head that I had to get done in order to be comfortable and know that I could do my job right, which I don’t think was true.”
In the end, Parsons said that working so diligently on such a successful show resulted in awards, sure, but he ultimately missed out on “tons of life” due to his singular focus. Still, he wouldn’t change a thing.
“In the same way, I can’t go back. I wouldn’t be where I am right now if I hadn’t had that time of life and that somewhat self-tortured nature was part of it,” he explained, before adding that he has also focused on a way to find that allusive work-life balance.
“It’s evolving, and it gets better all the time,” he added. “What I feel is better, what I feel is healthier.”
Parsons did make a cameo appearance on the show’s spinoff, Young Sheldon, admitting in an interview on Today that it was a weird experience.
“Big Bang Theory was always a live-audience show and Young Sheldon is a single-camera show, and I got to do it with Mayim — we both played Sheldon and Amy from the series — and to do it in that situation, it was just different enough that it wasn’t creepy,” Parsons said during his March 2024 appearance on the hit morning show. “Like, going like, ‘What are we doing here again?!’ Instead, it was really sweet. It felt like the nicest little coda to the whole experience, and I was very grateful that they asked us to do it.”
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