10 Rumors About Mayim Bialik We Couldn't Ignore

When you think of "The Big Bang Theory" cast member who is most likely to inspire pages of tabloid gossip, Mayim Bialik probably isn't the first actor to come to mind. While it's true Bialik got her showbiz start on a '90s sitcom that became a part of the era's cultural zeitgeist, it was a different time. "I think people misunderstand what our fame was like," she said in a 2017 Grok Nation interview with her former "Blossom" co-star Mike Stoyanov. "Obviously we were recognizable, but there was also no social media, we weren't that in the public eye." But after "The Big Bang Theory," Bialik's life was never the same, and she suddenly had a central role in several rumors.

She solidified her status as a celebrity in 2019 when a webloid tried to smear her with that old standby: Fame had turned her into a spoiled, bratty diva. A source told Radar that Bialik's purported bad attitude had caused some acrimonious feelings among her "Big Bang Theory" castmates. "I know for a fact that some of them don't like her and cover up for her behavior. She can be really awful," the supposed insider claimed.

Bialik also stood accused of making a scene at an event when she discovered that her assigned seat was already occupied. "Mayim was so nasty, screaming that it was her seat," the source further dished. "Another famous rapper/actor was standing there with us and he had to tell Mayim to stop it." Of course, there's no solid evidence to back up these claims, including the account of the mysterious multihyphenate who supposedly scolded her. What we do have is a roundup of other rumors about Bialik, and it all started with the embellishment of a bad car crash.

In August 2012, TMZ reported that Mayim Bialik had been involved in a car crash that put one of her fingers in serious jeopardy of needing amputation. The aftermath was reportedly gruesome and bloody, with one source stating, "Her finger was almost completely severed ... it was just hanging there." However, Bialik later enlisted her then-husband Michael Stone's help in assuring fans that all of her fingers remained fully intact. "([H]usband typing) In pain but will keep all my fingers," she revealed on X. Two days later, she was able to type herself but had to use one hand to express her gratitude that her injury hadn't been as awful as early reports claimed. While it's true that it was bad enough that it required surgery, she seemed to take a dig at TMZ's sensationalized account of her injury when she wrote on her Kveller blog, "I implore you to not trust gossip media."

In a lengthier blog update, Bialik recalled some of the concerns she had on the way to the hospital: She wanted to prepare for a potential MRI by taking out her bobby pins, and she didn't want to freak out one of the paramedics by removing her fake eyelashes. "As my hand poured blood like water, I distinctly remembered — in shock, mind you — not wanting to get blood on the dress that was on loan from my stylist," she wrote.

A year later, a TMZ headline blared, "Mayim Bialik Sues Over Car Accident: I Nearly Lost a Hand!" However, when E! News asked her about the lawsuit and her injury, Bialik said, "I did not almost lose my hand. ... I sustained significant injuries for which I am still recovering."

In November 2012, Mayim Bialik went through a life-changing divorce from Michael Stone. The couple had been married for nearly a decade, and the split came during a time when Bialik was under intense scrutiny. She had published a book on attachment parenting that March, and some of her revelations about her parenting style had critics up in arms. She advocated for divisive practices such as bed sharing and extended breastfeeding, and when the internet learned about her marriage's demise, speculation abounded that this labor-intensive form of parenting had driven the couple apart. "Did Attachment Parenting Contribute to Mayim Bialik's Divorce?" Time magazine asked in a piece published after Bialik tried to preempt such chatter in her divorce announcement. "The hands-on style of parenting we practice played no role in the changes that led to this decision; relationships are complicated no matter what style of parenting you choose," she had written on Kveller.

On "The View," the co-hosts remained convinced that attachment parenting was to blame for Bialik and Stone's divorce. Joy Behar was skeptical of Bialik's statement claiming that her split had nothing to do with how she was raising her children. She pointed out that Bialik couldn't exactly say otherwise, considering how passionately she had been promoting attachment parenting (and she also had that book to sell). "It leads to detachment marriages," Behar quipped.

Bialik was able to roll with the punches in part because she had her critics to thank for a little ka-ching. "I like that less than a week after 'The View' bashed me for my parenting choices causing my divorce, I got a residuals check for my appearance on their show from last year," she wrote on Facebook (via E! News).

Perhaps because it's a matter of child safety, rumors about Mayim Bialik's stance on vaccinations persist despite her multiple attempts at clearing up confusion about her views. In 2025, she was still regularly being accused of being an anti-vaxxer on Reddit, even though she had denied being against vaccines a decade earlier.

In defense of her critics, Bialik only has herself to blame for the belief that her two children never got vaccinated. The trouble started in 2009 when she told People, "We are a non-vaccinating family, but I make no claims about people's individual decisions. We based ours on research and discussions with our pediatrician, and we've been happy with that decision." She added that she knew some people would have a problem with her choice, which she also referenced in her book "Beyond the Sling" three years later. But at some point, it seemed that her feelings about vaccines changed. "dispelling rumors abt my stance on vaccines," she wrote in a 2015 X post. "i'm not anti. my kids are vaccinated. so much anger and hysteria. i hope this clears things up."

Her views on vaccines became a hot-button topic again during the pandemic. While some social media posts claimed she had refused to have her children vaccinated against COVID-19, Bialik insisted this was untrue. In a 2022 interview with the Daily Beast, she also said that her kids did eventually get their recommended vaccinations — just not when they were babies. "I think delayed vaccinations is something that many people do ... I absolutely believe vaccines work and have always said that," she said. "To me, it's a bit of a manufactured [controversy] and there's not necessarily a change."

Call me Kat fight? While Mayim Bialik was geeking out and telling The Mary Sue that the trailer for "Man of Steel" made her cry, her castmate Kaley Cuoco was dating Superman himself, Henry Cavill. Cuoco's love life and her sex symbol status kept the tabloids churning out stories about her, but they also reserved some scuttlebutt space for Bialik — by concocting a narrative that the disparate co-stars were work nemeses.

In 2016, Bialik shared her thoughts about her "Big Bang Theory" salary with the Daily News. "I don't make as much money as people think I do. ... I am an employed actor and we are all overpaid," she said. It didn't take long for Radar to use Bialik's remarks as fodder for a story about Cuoco feeling some sort of way about them. If the webloid is to be believed, Cuoco, who was reportedly making 10 times as much as Bialik at the time, was personally offended by her co-star's comments. "Kaley is furious at Mayim for trash-talking her earnings," said a source. "She thinks it's just a case of sour grapes and jealousy."

However, a year later, Variety reported that Cuoco had blessed Bialik with an act of generosity: agreeing to a reduction in her pay so her castmate could get a bigger paycheck. But when People asked Bialik about the report, she said, "You shouldn't believe everything you read." This also applies to a 2019 Naughty Gossip report about Bialik and Cuoco's relationship. A source told the outlet, "Kaley and Mayim hate each other. There have been huge catfights between the two of them and now producers try to just keep them apart."

Anyone active on X knows that comrades in cannabis Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong desperately want you to get more than a sugar high from their gummies, but an ad campaign suggesting that Mayim Bialik was trying to steal business from the "Up and Smoke" stars was all smoke and no fire. In 2022, she was the target of a Facebook scam that involved getting users to click on ads disguised as articles about "allegations" against her. According to Business Insider, the links went to a fake Fox News article titled, "Mayim Bialik reverses dementia solution sparks huge lawsuit pressure on Fox, she finally fights back on air." However, the body of the piece was just an ad for a brand of CBD dummies.

On Instagram, Bialik warned her followers that the pervasive ads were a hoax. "I am not selling CBD Gummies of any kind and do not plan to do so at any point in the future," she wrote. "I have tried to get this removed to no avail." Unfortunately, several fans responded to the post by letting her know that they had fallen for the deceptive marketing ploy. 

In a video on X, Bialik also told her followers that she always shares posts about the products she endorses on her social media pages, so they should check there if they're uncertain whether an ad featuring her likeness is legit. An example is the "brain supplement" Neuriva, which she promoted on her Instagram account with the paid partnership label. "Places are getting a lot more clever about making things look like they are real news stories when they are not," she added in her video.

When Mayim Bialik began hosting "Jeopardy!" in 2021, it didn't take long for fans to pay an inordinate amount of attention to her wardrobe. Some viewers noticed her rewearing certain garments — something most people do at work — and complained about it. "[I]f you wear a burnt sienna cardigan blazer — you're going to wear it again. That's right. There is a budget, people, on 'Jeopardy!' ... We budget. We're gonna wear it again," she told E! News in April 2022. 

Finding a way to convince fans that there's nothing wrong with wearing a garment more than once wasn't Bialik's only clothing conundrum. "[P]eople don't think Mayim cuts the right figure on set, even when it comes to her fashion sense. She insists on choosing her own outfits, which has led to a lot of eye-rolling," a source had told OK! USA months earlier. On top of this, Bialik reportedly wasn't clicking with her co-workers — but if they were being judgmental over something as superficial as clothing, perhaps she wasn't the problem.

Sadly, a 2023 Radar report claimed that Bialik eventually gave in and conformed to the sartorial expectations of the Regina Georges at work. She purportedly thought it would give her a shot at being named the solo "Jeopardy!" host over Ken Jennings, with whom she was sharing the job. "She has a compliment for everyone these days. She's ... changing up her hairdo and adding brighter, peppier wardrobes," an insider dished. This tragic clothing capitulation came after Bialik had explained how her earlier "Jeopardy!" wardrobe reflected her proud ties to academia. 

In January 2021, Mayim Bialik and her boyfriend, Jonathan Cohen, launched their podcast, "Mayim Bialik's Breakdown." In a Facebook post announcing when the first episode would air, Bialik described Cohen as "her smart Canadian co-pilot," but it seems some listeners thought Cohen was more than her co-host and boyfriend.

The couple had been dating for several years when they became podcasters, so their relationship wasn't exactly a secret when actor Justin Long mentioned it during a 2022 episode of his podcast, "Life Is Short." Celebrities going on other celebrities' podcasts to talk about their podcasts is a recurring theme listeners have begrudgingly accepted, so it didn't take long for Long to bring up "Breakdown" while chatting with Bialik. "I don't want to ... divulge anything [but] do people know you do [the podcast] with your husband?" Long asked, possibly because he'd seen a rumor or erroneous article somewhere describing Bialik and Cohen as spouses. Bialik quickly corrected him, saying, "He's not my husband. ... [W]e do our podcast as partners, so we actually prefer not to sort of talk about it."

However, the couple doesn't try to hide their relationship, either. In 2023, Cohen shared a photo on Instagram of himself and Bialik grinning at one another like besotted teenagers while seated on a pile of pillows inside a tepee-like structure. Some of his followers noted that it looked like a chuppah, a covering Jewish couples stand underneath when they get married. "Sometimes we find ourselves in unexpected places for no apparent reason," he wrote in his caption. However, as of this writing, he and Bialik still haven't announced that they are husband and wife, so the marriage buzz remains speculative.

Some "Jeopardy!" fans weren't happy with the decision to keep Mayim Bialik on as a host in 2022; they wanted Ken Jennings to be given the gig full time instead of sharing it with "The Big Bang Theory" star. They got their wish in December 2023.

There were rumors galore about why Bialik got the boot. According to TMZ, a noble act was the nail in the coffin. Whereas she stopped filming "Jeopardy!" to support the 2023 writers' strike, Jennings shrugged off being called a scab and stayed on. Studio execs reportedly realized that the one-host format worked better while she was gone, so they decided to stick with it. The Puck News weekly newsletter (via TV Insider) backed up this version of events, describing "Jeopardy!" executive producer Michael Davies as "furious" with Bialik for taking a hiatus during the strike. According to reporter Matthew Belloni, Bialik's other big filming commitment, her sitcom "Call Me Kat," had also caused issues by forcing the game show to change its shooting schedule. 

Meanwhile, The U.S. Sun claimed that Bialik had struggled to make any meaningful connections with her co-workers. "Mayim was never a perfect fit and she really didn't have great relations with the executives in charge of the studio. ... Did she make a bunch of friends on the crew or among the Sony executives? No," a source stated. As for the show's official stance on Bialik's exit? "[W]hat we've heard from a lot of television stations and other interested parties is that they wanted more consistency," Davies stated during a 2024 Television Critics Association panel (via People). "They wanted a single host."

And it all ended with a big bang. According to The U.S. Sun, there was a pretty intense rivalry between Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings when they shared "Jeopardy!" hosting duties. Bialik reportedly gave producers an ultimatum, saying she would jump ship if they didn't show Jennings the door, but they told her to take a hike instead. On Bialik's feelings about her treatment, a source mused, "Would Mayim say 'yes' if invited back as a fill-in? I'm not sure that she would."

A flurry of 2024 reports suggested that Bialik didn't just have other television projects and her podcast to keep her busy after her ousting; she also had some vengeful feelings to work out. The National Enquirer claimed she was infuriated with Jennings for taking advantage of her absence during the writers' strike and ingratiating himself further with the higher-ups amid their hosting battle. "Mayim's pissed," an insider dished (via Radar). "She's not going to forget it and plans on wiping that smirk off his face!" Meanwhile, Closer Weekly claimed that she was the one smirking as she took solace in her former rival's "Jeopardy!" blunders. "[S]he's enjoying all the gaffes Ken's making, which proves he's not such a know-it-all after all," said the publication's insider.

Conversely, Radar claimed that Bialik was still seething and licking her wounds because of other career setbacks, including the "Blossom" revival she had fought so hard for failing to get greenlit. The webloid's report also said she was feeling jealous of Jennings, not reveling in his hosting fails. "She finds it deplorable that Ken's doing so well," its source stated. "In hindsight, taking the pink slip without a fight was probably the worst thing she ever did."