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Emily Osment Requests Intimacy Coordinator for Young Co-Star
Confirmed
In Short: Emily Osment requested an intimacy coordinator for scenes with her Young Sheldon co-star Montana Jordan due to their age gap.
Emily Osment, who played Mandy McAllister on 'Young Sheldon,' requested an intimacy coordinator for scenes involving her co-star Montana Jordan, who was 18 at the time.
Osment, 30 at the time, expressed discomfort about the 12-year age gap between her and Jordan, who played Georgie Cooper.
Director Alex Reid acknowledged the oversight, admitting, 'We totally dropped the ball' due to the show's lack of sex scenes.
Osment explained, 'My concern wasn’t the discomfort of making out with someone after just meeting them; I’m an actor, so that’s something I’m used to. My discomfort was that he was eighteen.'
The production eventually brought in an intimacy coordinator for subsequent episodes as the relationship between the characters escalated.
Osment, who joined the show in season 5, said she felt protective over her young co-star, noting, 'He was such a sweet kid, and even if he was uncomfortable with the scenes, he would just eat his discomfort.'
Co-creator Steve Molaro noted, 'Emily had every right to ask for an intimacy coordinator, and eventually she was comfortable without one.'
Osment and Jordan now lead the spin-off 'Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage,' currently in its third season.
The request for an intimacy coordinator highlights the importance of ensuring actors' comfort and safety during intimate scenes, especially when there is a significant age gap between them.
What this adds
The production initially did not have an intimacy coordinator due to the show's lack of sex scenes, but they brought one in for subsequent episodes.
Osment's request was made in the context of her joining the show in 2022, when she was 30 and Jordan was 18.
The book 'Young Sheldon: The (Juicier-Than-Meemaw’s-Brisket) Inside Story of the Hit Comedy' provides additional details about the production's handling of these scenes.
Background
Young Sheldon is an American sitcom television series created by Chuck Lorre and Steven Molaro that aired on CBS from September 25, 2017, to May 16, 2024. A spin-off and prequel to The Big Bang Theory, the series is set from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s and follows the childhood of Sheldon Cooper, a gifted young prodigy growing up with his family in Medford, Texas.
What's confirmed
- The now 34-year-old younger sister to former child star Haley Joel Osment played Mandy McAllister while Jordan, now 23, was George ‘Georgie’ Cooper – older brother to The Big Bang Theory ’s central character, physics whizz Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons in the original sitcom and Iain Armitage (now 18 himself) in the Young Sheldon spin-off.
- So I spoke to Tim Marx, and obviously they were not able to get one that late in the day, but for the next few episodes they had one there, since the relationship between them escalates,’ Osment revealed in Jessica Radloff’s new book on the making on the making of the show, Young Sheldon: The (Juicier-Than-Meemaw’s-Brisket) Inside Story of the Hit Comedy.
- Emily Osment said she requested an intimacy coordinator during kissing scenes with “Young Sheldon” co-star Montana Jordan due to their nearly 12-year age gap when he was 18.
- “I have a photo between takes of them sitting in that car when we shot that, and they’re looking off in other directions. I showed it to Emily and she said, ‘Yeah, that was so uncomfortable for both of us, because we didn’t know each other,’” Reid recalled.
What's still developing
- As they shot the show in the early part of the decade, the plot called for Jordan’s Georgie Cooper to become romantically involved with Osment’s Mandy McAllister.
- Intimacy coordinators act as advocates, liaisons and choreographers for actors during scenes involving nudity, simulated sex or intimacy, protecting both them and everyone present on set during shooting.
- The “The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter” actor was 18 at the time.
- “And that made me uncomfortable,” the Hannah Montana alum, who was 29 at the time, continued, referring to Jordan’s age.
- The actress, who joined the CBS comedy in its fifth season as the much-older love interest of Jordan’s character Georgie Cooper, admitted in Jessica Radloff’s book, “Young Sheldon: The (Juicier-Than-Meemaw’s-Brisket) Inside Story of the Hit Comedy,” that she had some “concern[s]” about their age gap.
- In Jessica Radloff ’s new book Young Sheldon: The (Juicier-Than-Meemaw’s-Brisket) Inside Story of the Hit Comedy, the Hannah Montana alum, who was 30 when she began filming the show, revealed she requested an intimacy coordinator for her and a then-18-year-old Jordan’s kissing scenes due to their 12-year age gap.
- “When I turned 60, I had a conversation with my wife. I said, ‘Look, I can still play basketball with the boys. I play with 25-year-old guys.’” “‘I can still hang, I'm in shape,’” he added.
- "I wanted [director] Lynne [ Ramsay ] to have total freedom artistically."
- “Obviously they were not able to get one that late in the day, but for the next few episodes they had one there, since the relationship between them escalates.” And as expected, having a professional on set to guide the actors made a world of a difference.
- “I think it’s something that’s really important.” Jordan, 23, and Osment, 34, played George Cooper and Mandy McAllister, respectively, on the CBS show for three seasons together until the series finale in 2024.
- “I’ve been trying to go the route Paul Newman did. ‘OK, well, I'm not kissing a girl any more,’” he told the Daily Mail in 2025.
- “ Red Sparrow really scared the hell out of me because I get nude,” she told Vanity Fair at the time.