Emily Osment says she asked for intimacy coordinator on Young Sheldon because of age gap with Montana Jordan

Young Sheldon star Emily Osment has revealed she requested an intimacy coordinator for kissing scenes with co-star Montana Jordan.

She cited their almost 12-year age gap as the reason for the on-set request – with Jordan aged 18 at the time and Osment 29 when she joined the show in 2022, midway through season five, reports Page Six.

“That made me uncomfortable. He was a baby! A baby with a mullet,” the actress now 34 said of Jordan, now 23, in journalist Jessica Radloff’s new book Young Sheldon: The (Juicier-Than-Meemaw’s-Brisket) Inside Story of the Hot Comedy.

Osment continued: “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.

Eventually the pair were able to kiss without needing intimacy coordinators (Photo by Troy Harvey/CBS via Getty Images)

“It made everything easier having one there. I think it’s something that’s really important.”

The Hannah Montana actress explained she was not sure if Jordan was aware he could also have asked for an intimacy coordinator.

“Like, let’s give him the option, too. Make him comfortable,” she said.

“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].”

Director Alex Reid said the show didn’t generally use intimacy coordinators for kissing scenes because it had no sex scenes, adding that in this case they ‘totally dropped the ball.’

Osment and Jordan are regarded as having onscreen chemistry (Photo by Troy Harvey/CBS via Getty Images)

Reid said, “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.’

“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,” he added.

“Obviously, they worked that out, and they have a great chemistry now, but that was kind of embarrassing.”

Jordan and Osment have worked together for several years (Photo by Michael Simon/Getty Images for The Loft Agency LLC)

Steve Molaro, who co-created the series, agreed that Osment had ‘every right to ask’ for an intimacy coordinator, and after a time ‘she was comfortable without one’.

Young Sheldon was a hit with fans and ran from September 2017 to May 2024, for a total of seven seasons.

Osment, who played older weather forecaster Mandy McAllister, was 30 when she joined the show to navigate her character’s surprise relationship with George ‘Georgie’ Cooper Jr., played by Jordan, who was 18 at the time.

The characters’ romance produced the spin-off Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.