Why This ’The Big Bang Theory’ Star Dumped His Wife Before Marrying Her

Simon Helberg, better known as Howard Wolowitz on the hit sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, has been married to his wife for 15 years now. But their love story could’ve had a very bleak ending. Their experience teaches us that our emotions often get the best of us, but fate always prevails in the end.

How Simon Helberg almost lost the love of his life

Before marrying Jocelyn Towne in 2007, Simon Helberg almost made the biggest mistake that could’ve ruined them forever. The famous actor let his self-doubt get the best of him and broke up with Towne, even though all he really wanted was to propose.

According to Helberg, “I thought I would like to marry this girl, so first of all, I’m going to systematically destroy my entire life and our relationship and lie and ruin all my friendships.” He added, “I freaked out, I thought I had feelings for other people, I thought that I needed more of an exciting life. I had the perfect thing but for whatever reason. It was an exercise in self-destruction.”

Helberg admitted that he got cold feet, which is very natural before taking a big step like marriage, but he couldn’t even bring himself to propose to Towne. Naturally, she took the breakup badly and decided to move back to France, which led to her dating another man. So Helberg did the only thing that could salvage their relationship.

The actor flew to France and somehow convinced Towne to give him another chance. He shared, “I proposed immediately on her return because I thought if I can just trap her and force her to marry me that’s the most romantic thing anyone could ask for.”

Their marriage inspired his The Big Bang Theory storyline.

After Helberg and Towne got married, they became parents to a boy and a girl, which made Helberg the first The Big Bang Theory cast member to start a family. As a result, the showrunner decided to have his character find the love of his life quicker than the rest of the group.

As we now know, Helberg’s character, Howard, was known for striking out with the ladies but not losing hope in the love department. Eventually, he fell for Melissa Rauch’s character, Bernadette. They became the first couple to marry on the show and, eventually, have children.

Helberg also adapted his love story into a movie.

But The Big Bang Theory wasn’t the only on-screen adaptation of Helberg and Towne’s love story. Helberg himself realized that their marriage story was perfect movie material and made it into a film called We’ll Never Have Paris, which he directed with his wife.

Funnily enough, at first, Towne thought Helberg was crazy for letting the world know their love story, as she didn’t even tell her parents about the breakup. She felt it was too humiliating. In the end, however, when Helberg finished the script, his wife thought it was hilarious, and they completed the project together.

Interestingly, there’s even more drama hiding among The Big Bang Theory cast. For example, the on-screen couple, Penny and Leonard, portrayed by Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki, had a romantic relationship in real life. Cuoco and Galecki were in a serious relationship for a few years while filming the show. Unfortunately, the couple didn’t work out, but they stayed great friends and colleagues.