Iain Armitage has spoken out about claims he was “difficult” on the set of Young Sheldon.
The actor, now 18, addressed his behavior during his years playing the child prodigy Sheldon Cooper starting at age nine in 2017. His comments come after co-star Annie Potts, 73, described him as sometimes hard to work with in a new behind-the-scenes book about the CBS hit.
Potts, who played Sheldon’s grandmother Meemaw, told author Jessica Radloff that the young actor carried an enormous burden. “Here’s the thing…we were all working for Iain,” she said in an excerpt from Young Sheldon: The (Juicier-Than-Meemaw’s-Brisket) Inside Story of the Hit Comedy. “We were all serving him. The characters were meant to serve his journey, so that is a lot for a little person to manage psychologically.”
“He was asked to work and carry the weight of something that would be difficult for an adult, and we know that a lot of behaviour comes out in situations like that. Yes, sometimes he was difficult,” Potts continued. “But I’ve worked with grown-ups who were a lot worse. Sometimes I think he was tired, and sometimes I think he pushed people, and people were kissing his ass!”
Potts added: “It’s a very challenging situation to be nine-years-old and be expected to work, behave, and think like a grown-up. And I say that with absolute love and respect.”
Armitage responded to the claims by emphasizing the pressure he faced and the grace he received from understanding colleagues. “It was a complete privilege to be on this show and play this character, but yes, it was a big undertaking for an 8-year-old,” he said. “I always did the best that I could, and sometimes kids are not perfect. I was grateful to the people who understood that and gave me grace.”
The book, which Radloff wrote as an oral history of the series, notes that although the cast “loved each other and still do,” they did not “always get along.” Radloff writes: “Relationships could get complicated, and there were times where certain bonds were stronger than others. In the two-plus years since the show ended, some relationships remain as if the show never ended; others have cooled because of physical distance and life. But there’s no denying that this cast still shows up for each other, and that wouldn’t be the case if they didn’t genuinely care.”
Emily Osment, who played Mandy McAllister, drew on her own experience as a Disney Channel star to defend the younger actors. “You have no idea how tough it is to be in school and also be at work,” she said. “It’s a lot to juggle, so I have a lot of empathy for that. Iain and Raegan [Revord] would finish a dinner scene and just get carted off to school.”
Lance Barber, who portrayed Sheldon’s father George Cooper Sr., noted that the adult cast developed strong bonds with the child performers. He said their parents “gave us freedom to be honest with them in regards to what we needed as professionals,” adding: “Occasionally, they had to be shut down.”
Potts described the unusual demands of growing up on a television set, calling it a “weird life for a kid” where they were “expected that they behave as much as possible like adults.” She recalled giving out whoopie cushions to let the children be “a little naughty in a surprising way,” and sometimes stepping in with gentle discipline when parents weren’t present. “They’d be tired or cranky, or I could tell they just needed to run and burn some energy off,” she shared. “And if you have a familial relationship with them, it doesn’t hurt their feelings so much. But I especially had a little gravity for them, like, ‘Annie doesn’t want us to do this’.”
Before Young Sheldon, Armitage had already built a resume including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Big Little Lies, and films I’m Not Here and Our Souls at Night. He told Entertainment Tonight in 2024 that the work had become “weirdly normal” to him. “It’s something I kind of realised, that this is such an incredible and weird thing that I get to do…We’re really lucky,” he said. He also praised the crew and cast as “so dedicated” and said they “really feel like family.”
Since the show wrapped its seven-season run, Armitage has made a cameo appearance on the CBS series Ghosts and earned his student pilot’s license in 2024.
Young Sheldon: The (Juicier-Than-Meemaw’s-Brisket) Inside Story of the Hit Comedy will be released October 20 in the US and November 5 in the UK.