Mayim Bialik Of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ Says Writing Is ‘Freeing’
Mayim Bialik is many things: actor on The Big Bang Theory, former child star, mother, blogger, and holder of a Ph.D. It’s a lot of identities to juggle, and in a new interview with Glamour, Bialik reveals the one task she finds particularly enjoyable is writing. Bialik’s book Girling Up is due out next May, and it’s a comprehensive volume that explores life as a woman, from her own perspective.
“I think writing is the most natural because it’s literally just an outpouring of my brain. I don’t have to please other people, which is what acting is. I don’t have to meet an academic standard, which is what being a scientist is. It’s been really freeing to be able to write.”
Bialik told Glamour that she was approached to write Girling Up after she wrote a post on Grok Nation about the Big Bang Theory episode when Sheldon and Amy finally got intimate last year. In that article, Bialik wrote that she could relate to Amy’s status as a late bloomer, although her character’s steps to intimacy stretched out over many more years than did her own.
But Bialik’s discussion on Grok Nation got the attention of a Penguin editor, who suggested writing a book. Bialik decided to go beyond just sex and talk more generally about gender experience.
“[W]hy confine us to just one aspect of being female? The whole experience of growing up as a girl—and that’s how we got the title, ‘Girling Up,’—was the idea that the female experience—and the male experience—is never confined to just one thing. We talk about body issues, body image, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, all these things that plague us.”
The book was reviewed by experts in those areas, such as a pediatrician, because of the sensitivity of the subjects and the potential vulnerability of the target audience — young girls.
Bialik said that the hardest part of Girling Up to write was the chapter that addressed sex, but she bravely dove into the topic despite her own comfort level. She admitted no one involved in the writing of the book was looking forward to her exploration of issues of sexuality.
“There are times you want to be sexual, and times when you don’t. There are limits and boundaries to your comfort level, and we had to cover all of that. I was terrified to write that chapter, and I wrote it first. That’s how I dealt with it.”
Although Girling Up won’t be released until next year, Bialik is continuing to lend her voice to support young people, including those interested in pursuing careers in the hard sciences. The Washington Post reported this week that Bialik surprised a middle school class in Virginia as part of an event that was the culmination of a 10-week program where they learned computer coding. Bialik, as it turned out, had learned to code while a university student in order to assist with analyzing MRI data. She emphasized the benefits of learning coding earlier than she had, which the middle schoolers were well on their way to doing.
The Big Bang Theory just aired its winter finale, in which Sheldon and Amy had their annual coitus event — Amy’s birthday — and Bernadette and Howard had a baby girl. The show will return with new episodes in January.
The Big Bang Theory airs Thursday nights on CBS.
[Featured Image by Rich Polk/Getty Images]
