The Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik refused to give Neil Patrick Harris a standing ovation and it wasn't pretty

Neil Patrick Harris stopped talking to Mayim Bialik after she refused to give him a standing ovation.

The two were friends as teenagers and the former Big Bang Theory actress went to see her pal in a touring production of Rent in the 1990s, but declined to get on her feet to show her appreciation because she's not a fan of musicals, causing the 48-year-old star to take offence.

Asked about the last musical she saw, Mayim, 48, said on The Late Late Show with James Corden: "I went to see Rent. I was friends with Neil Patrick Harris... this is a terrible story. I went to see Rent... I was a teenager and I did not... it wasn't my thing.

"But when your friend is in the play... and then everyone is clapping at the end and you say to your boyfriend next to you, 'I don't want to stand for this,' and you look up and Neil Patrick Harris is looking right at you, it's a bad day...

"Neil was fantastic, he's amazing, but I just wasn't into the, 'Let's give a standing ovation,' it wasn't my thing, but that's not a thing you say out loud, because Neil was reading my lips."

Mayim admitted she went backstage after the show and the How I Met Your Mother star confronted her.

She added: "We were friends at the time... at the time... and he said, I kid you not, 'Why did you say you weren't gonna stand up?'

"I did not have a good answer… We didn't speak for a long time. He says that he forgave me and he sent me flowers when he heard I was still carrying this terrible guilt.

"I mean, I feel terrible. It just wasn't my thing."

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Host James was "shocked to the core" when he heard the Jeopardy! presenter doesn't like musicals, but she insisted they're "weird".

She said: "Why do I have to like them?

"They're ridiculous. People are talking and then they're singing? It's so weird.

"Here's the thing. If you want to sing, just sing. Go in a car with James Corden, cut an album, that's music. If you want to act and do a thing, you have a play. I don't want them together. You just gotta keep it separated."

Neil himself later took to Twitter to clarify he and the actress are still friends.

He wrote: "Mayim Bialik and I have been friends for over 30 years. Her aversion to musical theatre isn't going to change that…(sic)"