Emily Osment requested intimacy coordinator for 'Young Sheldon' kissing scenes over 12-year age gap

When Emily Osment joined 'Young Sheldon' at age 30 to play Mandy McAllister — an older weather forecaster who begins a relationship with Montana Jordan's teenage character — she quickly realized the kissing scenes required more support than the production had arranged. Jordan was 18 at the time, nearly 12 years her junior, and Osment went directly to a producer to ask for an intimacy coordinator.

That made me uncomfortable. He was a baby! A baby with a mullet.— Emily Osment, actor

The account appears in Jessica Radloff's new oral-history book, 'Young Sheldon: The (Juicier-Than-Meemaw's-Brisket) Inside Story of the Hit Comedy,' which chronicles the making of the CBS series that ran seven seasons from September 2017 to May 2024. Osment, now 34, joined the show in its later seasons; Jordan, now 23, had been with it from the start as Georgie Cooper Jr.

Osment said she raised the issue with producer Tim Marx. The request came too late for the first episode, but an intimacy coordinator was brought in for subsequent episodes as the on-screen relationship between Mandy and Georgie escalated, according to Page Six.

So I spoke to [producer] 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. It made everything easier having one there. I think it's something that's really important.— Emily Osment, actor

Osment also said she thought about Jordan's comfort, not just her own — noting she wasn't sure he knew he could make the same request.

Like, let's give him the option, too. Make him comfortable. And he's such a sweet kid, I think he would just eat his discomfort. But I love those guys, and I'm really happy it got to the point where they were able to do that [for us].— Emily Osment, actor

Director Alex Reid acknowledged the oversight directly, pointing to a photo taken between takes of Osment and Jordan sitting in a car during the shoot, visibly looking in opposite directions.

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.'— Alex Reid, director

It wasn't even about the lack of an intimacy coordinator. It's just you're having to make out with somebody you just kind of met. Obviously, they worked that out, and they have a great chemistry now, but that was kind of embarrassing.— Alex Reid, director

Reid's use of 'embarrassing' referred to the production's failure to have a coordinator in place from the start — a gap he attributed to the show not having sex scenes, which is the context in which intimacy coordinators are most commonly deployed on set.

I totally dropped the ball.— Alex Reid, director

Co-creator Steve Molaro backed Osment's decision, saying she had 'every right to ask' and that eventually 'she was comfortable without one,' according to Page Six.

The Mandy-and-Georgie storyline proved popular enough to spawn a direct spin-off, 'Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage,' with both Osment and Jordan reprising their roles. Radloff's book chronicles the series.

Why it matters — The episode illustrates a broader industry debate about when intimacy coordinators should be standard — not just for explicit scenes, but for any physical contact between actors with significant age differences or limited familiarity.

Reported by variety.com, pagesix.com, hollywoodreporter.com, people.com