Kaley Cuoco is most comfortable when she’s surrounded by her horses, dogs, cows, chickens, and even her zonkey, or a half-zebra, half-donkey. The former “Big Bang Theory” star bought her rance north of Hollywood, in Thousand Oaks several years ago. The 38-year-old actress told People Magazine while sitting in her barn, “I wanted something away from L.A. I love being an actor, and I love the business; I really do; I’ve been in it my whole life. I know nothing else for 30-plus years. But I knew I needed a special place that wasn’t that and that felt more grounded, felt more real, felt more family-oriented because I do love that side of my life, but this is equally as important to me.”
Cuoco, who has ridden horses for years and is a show jumper, began looking for her place around six years ago. She said, “I was like, ‘I want my own ranch. I want my own place.’” And I wanted a place for my family. My family’s family and my child and my brain.” The ranch is a place to get away from the demands of being a Hollywood star. Cuoco explained, “I come out here, and there’s no phone. You’ve got to get on [your horse], and you ride, and then you get off, and you grab a carrot, and you go walk in to see all the little animals, and they’re all running up to you, and it’s like, ‘Oh, my gosh,’ you just feel so honored.”
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However, the actress wanted to stay within the state because she is a “California girl from Day One,” she told Los Angeles Magazine this month. “No matter where I go in the world, this will always be the place I want to be.” The ranch basically consists of half show horses and half rescue animals. “You name the animal, and we probably have it. We even have ones you’ve probably never heard of before, like a zonkey,” Cuoco told People. She added, “Obviously, I rescue dogs, and everyone knows that about me, but I’ve really expanded to farm animals, and I’ve learned a lot about that, and even thoroughbreds and horses off the track and really anything with four legs is welcome here. We don’t really turn anyone away. It became this magical place.”
Her partner, Tom Pelphrey, recently told SiriusXM’s “The Jeff Cagle Show with Julia Cunningham” that the couple usually have a “pretty high volume” of rescue dogs at any time. “Around the time, literally two or three weeks before Matilda was born, Kaley came to me and said, ‘We have to get this dog.’ And this happens a lot. I usually only pay attention if the dog is mentioned more than twice; then I know that the dog is coming regardless of what I say,” he joked.
Cuoco is excited to raise her daughter at the ranch. “I think it’s a great place for a kid to grow up. Learning responsibility, doing chores, taking care of the animals and seeing how animals live together. It’s so important for us in our house for her to see how animals are treated and just kind of living in it,” she explained.