The cast members of the Big Bang Theory weren't prepared for the lucrative success of their show. At the beginning, Kaley Cuoco said she felt like "a little fish in a big sea." Fast-forward to 2023, she's already appeared in other projects like the Emmy-winning HBO series, The Flight Attendant and the movie Meet Cute alongside Pete Davidson.

While her co-star and ex-boyfriend, Johnny Galecki has been keeping a low profile these days, Jim Parsons, Kunal Nayyar, and Simon Helberg continue to star in some shows and movies. But unlike Cuoco, Nayyar and Helberg seem to be picking out lesser-known projects, probably due to their struggle with fame. They even told Larry King the same thing about their public life in separate interviews.

Kunal Nayyar Told Larry King That Fans Often "Bug" Him In Public

In November 2016, King asked Nayyar about his "strangest fan encounter" during Larry King Now's If You Only Knew segment. The actor answered: "I once had a gentleman take a photograph of me when I was next to them in the urinal." When asked about the "worst part about being famous," he said, "People bug you when you're eating dinner."

It also doesn't help that fans tend to ask him difficult questions as if he's his astrophysicist character, Raj Koothrappali. "Sometimes fans of the show will approach me and they will want me to be smart," he wrote in his 2015 memoir, Yes, My Accent Is Real: And Some Other Things I Haven't Told You.

"It is always awkward when I let them down gently and explain that, in fact, I am only an actor who is playing an astrophysicist. This just crushes some people. They want me to be Raj," he continued. "One guy asked me, “Hey, what do you think about the Higgs boson particle? Now we can prove that dark matters exists!"

"'I am sorry, I don't speak English very well, I'm with you,' I said,'" he recalled. "The only smart thing I know is that eight glasses of water a day is too much water." He went on to say that "the real problem with my character having selective mutism on The Big Bang Theory is that it has meant Raj has to drink so much alcohol."

Simon Helberg Told Larry King He Worries About His Kids Due To Fame

During the same segment of Larry King Now in August 2016, Helberg said the same worst thing about his popularity. He said "it does become harder to walk around on the street." He mentioned how it's not the most ideal situation for his kids and the fact that he "likes to look at how strange people often are" but that he couldn't do it anymore because he'd probably encounter fans asking for photographs.

Speaking of fan pictures, he said his "strangest fan encounter" was when he realized even a homeless person knew him. "I got off the freeway and there was a homeless girl with a cardboard sign and she asked for some money," he shared. "And I rolled down my window and she started freaking out and she wanted me to autograph her homeless sign."

He remembered having "this instinct to say 'Well maybe you should sell your flat-screen TV that you watch my show on... That's when you know you're popular." After TBBT ended in 2019, Helberg continued to act in smaller projects which may have lessened his crazy fan interactions since. Here are some of his recent works:

Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar Both Enjoy Their Restaurant Perks As Celebrities

via: Instar

When asked about the "best part about being famous," Nayyar and Helberg both told Larry King that it's getting restaurant reservations. The former simply said, "It's easy to get a restaurant reservation." The latter added that doctors prioritize his appointments: "Well, I like to eat, so you can get a good reservation. And I'm Jewish so I love doctors and they'll see you very quickly because you're very important."

The actors hit it off right away when they started shooting TBBT. To this day, they remain close with Nayyar referring to Helberg as his "brother from another mother" on Instagram. Despite their busy schedules, the two find time to send supportive comments to each other via social media.