Mayim Bialik is well aware that she's a Jeopardy! outfit repeater.
The Big Bang Theory alum never expected fans' reactions to her hosting looks on the popular trivia series, especially after viewers noticed her wearing the same burnt-orange blazer on two different episodes.
"The story is I've worn everything more than once," she exclusively told E! News' Daily Pop hosts Justin Sylvester and Loni Love on April 13. "But if you wear a burnt sienna cardigan blazer—you're going to wear it again. That's right. There is a budget, people, on Jeopardy!. I grew up with one bathroom till I was 15 and my brother was 19. We budget. We're gonna wear it again. And I'll wear it again!"
Even something as simple as straightening her hair is a big enough change to warrant an onslaught of opinions.
"Michael Anton's in charge of the hair, and he's like, ‘You do curls on Call Me Kat.' He's like, ‘We're gonna blow it out,'" she shared. "I was, like, ‘Fine, I look like a different kind of librarian, great!'"
Having guest-hosted the series alongside history-making champ Ken Jennings since longtime Alex Trebek died, Bialik revealed she would have never gotten the gig if it weren't for her son.
"My son was on social media and people were talking about guest hosts," she revealed. "My son was like, ‘Momma, they're talking about you on social media. They're saying you should guest host Jeopardy!.' I'm like, ‘That's not true.'"
A quick call to her agent was all it took to book the coveted role, which felt like a perfect fit for the neuroscientist, who is a self-proclaimed "nerd." And while her time on the show is currently "season to season," Bialik would love to take over full-time.
"It is a dream job," she said. "I learn every day. I get to meet new contestants every hour. It's fun. And the knowledge that these contestants have, it's just so much fun to watch. I'm entertained."
Already an accomplished actress, doctor and author, Bialik also recently took a turn on the other side of the camera, making her directorial debut with the new film As They Made Us, based on her own life experiences.
"My father passed away seven years ago, and I wasn't like, ‘I should write a movie about all the feelings that come up when you're grieving someone,'" she said. "But in the process of kind of grief, I started having all these memories, things come up. A lot of them were accompanied by music in my head, and I was like, ‘I think I should write this down.'"
Starring Dianna Agron, Dustin Hoffman and Candice Bergen, the film touches on topics that Bialik says weren't talked about during her childhood, including addiction and mental illness.
"The fact is there are stories like this in every family. Every race, class, gender, everybody has these kinds of issues of ‘the one who stayed,' ‘the one who left,' ‘we don't talk about this one.' That, to me, that is—it's about all those stories, which so many people have," she said.
It's through a film like this that the actress wants to change the narrative so that younger generations feel more comfortable talking about their struggles.
"With my kids, I'm honest with them when I struggle too," she shared. "I still live with mental health challenges. It's going to be my whole life, that's our story. So, I don't tell them I'm fine when I'm not because they can feel it in the air."
As They Made Us is available in theaters now and on VOD.