Big Bang Theory star called mum after first day on set after ‘accidentally masturbating’ while filming

Starting a new job usually comes with a call home to share the experience, but for Melissa Rauch, that conversation with her mother didn’t go as planned.

Instead of a proud moment, it turned into one of sheer embarrassment.

Rauch, best known for playing Bernadette Rostenkowski on The Big Bang Theory, made her debut on the hit sitcom in 2009.

Her character, introduced in season three, quickly became a fan favourite and eventually married Simon Helberg’s Howard Wolowitz.

But while her first episode seemed smooth to viewers, things were a little more awkward behind the scenes.

During a 2013 interview on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Rauch recounted a mortifying misunderstanding on her very first day on set, which led to an unintentional but hilarious mix-up in front of a live studio audience.

She shared, “The first episode of the season I had a little… incident.”

“We were shooting a scene where I was in a hotel room bed, and in my own life, whenever I’m under covers, I get really cold.”

“So I tend to pull the covers up really high and warm up my hands, like a boy scout starting a fire.”

Unknowingly, this habitual motion led to some unfortunate optics.

The studio kept the set cold, and Rauch, out of instinct, started rubbing her hands together under the covers. After the scene wrapped, the crew quickly pointed out the unintended implication.

“Our director and producer came over and said, ‘We need to see your hands in the next take—it looked like you were having way too much fun with yourself under the covers,’” she recalled.

To make matters worse, an audience member later confirmed the awkwardness. “After the show, I was talking to some people in the audience, and this little boy said, ‘Did you shoot that scene again with your hands out? Because my dad said it looked real weird.’”

Naturally, Rauch decided to call her mother to share the blunder, but the response was less than amused.

“She was mortified,” Rauch said, adding that her mother panicked over how the scene might be perceived.

“She’s like, ‘I hope people understand that you weren’t really doing that!'”

“‘That’s disgusting! People have been fired for that, people have lost their careers for doing that in movie theaters!’”

Despite the mix-up, Rauch took it in stride, joking that she continued teasing her mom with weekly updates.

She added, “She’s so upset about it. So now every week I just keep on saying, ‘Uh, something else happened at work…’”

“And she’s like, ‘Stop doing that! You did it again? It’s enough, keep your hands to yourself!”