‘Young Sheldon’ star Emily Osment requested intimacy coordinator over ‘uncomfortable’ age gap
If you followed the wildly popular hit US show, Young Sheldon, you'll know that there were no sex scenes in the coming-of-age comedy – but that doesn't mean there wasn't a need for an intimacy coordinator on set.
The show, which was created to be a prequel to Chuck Lorre's The Big Bang Theory, features the lives of the Cooper family in Texas as Sheldon grows up to become the man fans everywhere knows as being depicted as Jim Parsons as an adult.
Among the cast is Sheldon, mum Mary, sister Missy, brother Georgie, father George and Meemaw, his grandma.
But in later seasons, Emily Osment's Mandy McAllister character made quite the entrance when she shacked up with a much younger Georgie and ended up getting pregnant.
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In the show, Mandy is supposed to sleep with Georgie whilst under the impression that he was older than his 17 years of age.
The plot shows her lying to him and claiming to be 25, when she was actually 29, whilst he claims to be 21, and is actually 17.
In real life, Montana Jordan, who played Georgie, was 18 at the time, and Osment was 30.
With such a large age gap and the pair having to act intimate with one another, Jessica Radloff’s new book, titled Young Sheldon: The (Juicier-Than-Meemaw’s-Brisket) Inside Story of the Hit Comedy, claims Osment requested an on-set intimacy coordinator for their kissing scenes.
“That made me uncomfortable. He was a baby! A baby with a mullet. So I spoke to Tim Marx, and obviously they were not able to get one that late in the day, but for the next few episodes they had one there, since the relationship between them escalates,” Osment is supposed to have said, per Variety. “It made everything easier having one there. I think it’s something that’s really important.”
She is then said to have added that she didn't think her co-star was aware he could request a coordinator for kissing scenes, and may have just carried on without one even if he wasn't comfortable.
The book recorded her as saying: “I don’t know if Montana even knew if he could ask for that. Like, let’s give him the option, too. Make him comfortable. And he’s such a sweet kid, I think he would just eat his discomfort. But I love those guys, and I’m really happy it got to the point where they were able to do that [for us].”
However, the show's co-creator Steve Molaro revealed that Osment had 'every right to ask' for an intimacy coordinator and it eventually got to the point in filming where 'she was comfortable without one,' per The Independent.
Now, the actors are both leads in their show Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, which depicts...well, their first marriage.
In The Big Bang Theory, it is described that the pair marry, divorce, and eventually remarry once again.
So, maybe there will be another show called Georgie & Mandy’s Second Marriage, in the future?
Britt Jones