Riding High

- Carrie Bell

Kaley Cuoco isn’t really the secret-keeping type.

Whether she’s on a latenight host’s couch or posting on social media, the Big Bang Theory star has thoroughly chronicled her nasal-spray addiction, deep affection for in-flight drinking, bad hair days, onset shenanigans, sweaty workouts, ugly cries, and a painful tattoo cover-up (that last one to mask ink marking her wedding date to ex-husband Ryan Sweeting). Lately, some of her posts have focused on professional equestrian Karl Cook. The two got engaged last November on Kaley’s 32nd birthday, after nearly two years of dating— and her 3.6 million Instagram followers were all along for the ride.

That’s why, when I slide into the seat across from Kaley at lunch in Los Angeles, impressed that she arrived 10 minutes early, I’m surprised to notice she’s wearing a shiny gold nameplate necklace that reads Mrs. Cook. Did she pull a Margot Robbie and secretly get hitched?

“Oh, that...my glam squad gave it to me when I got engaged,” says Kaley, nonchalantly sipping a sherbet- colored smoothie. “The weirdest part is that I was a Cook way before I met Karl. Cuoco means ‘cook’ in Italian, and [the rest of my family] goes by Cook because no one can pronounce Cuoco. So the only reason this necklace won’t jinx me is because it’s already my name. I don’t have to change it. That’s gotta be a sign.”

There have been other signs too. Like Kaley and Karl’s mutual love for horses. They both ride competitively and were first introduced at a horse show. “An hour later, he showed up at my stable on his dirt bike with a glass of champagne,” she says. “He said, ‘Can I take you to dinner tonight?’ I said, ‘First, yes. And second, I hate champagne.’”