Sooo, despite The White Lotus‘ eyebrow-raising post-finale press tour and Jason Isaacs being a messy little shit stirrer, there’s seemingly no bad blood between Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood. Actually, simply saying there’s no bad blood feels wildly misleading, because they seem pretty obsessed with each other. In a new, joint interview with Variety, they both cried, talked about how much they love each other, and waxed poetic about Mike White cutting a “powerful” and “so, so delicate” sex scene between their White Lotus characters, Chelsea and Rick.
Celebrity interviews are often boring and bland, so I really do appreciate this batshit interview—but I am also exhausted from reading it.
For starters, Variety writes that Goggins and Wood never had a chemistry test—one of The White Lotus’ producers introduced them over text, they talked about their Scorpio placements (he’s a sun, she’s a moon), and that was that. “I think we were there for a day or two without meeting because I was so fucking in my head alone,” Goggins says of arriving in Thailand. (OK, Rick.) But he eventually asked Wood over for lunch, and Wood “was so nervous,” she asked Goggins to order for her.
“The minute she walked around the corner, I felt, ‘This is gonna work,’” Goggins says of finally meeting Wood. “Two minutes into the conversation, it felt like I’ve known this person for 100 years.” If I’m being honest, he’s giving me Lorde talking about Jack Antonoff vibes. (IYKYK.) So this is a good time to mention that Goggins has been married to director Nadia Conners since 2011, who, to her credit, seems unbothered by it all, so good for her.
Goggins also addressed his previous interview with The London Times, titled “Walton Goggins: Aimee Lou Wood? I’m not gonna have that conversation,” in which he reportedly walked off after the interviewer pressed him on Wood. But he tells Variety that the “dude in the U.K” asked about her three times, then asked if they bonded over their teeth. “What he was insinuating, it was so disgusting. It was so appalling. I was flabbergasted,” he said. “And I said, ‘Fuck mate, wow. I think we’re done here.’”
But he reiterates that They Are Not Fighting. “There is no feud. I adore, I love this woman madly, and she is so important to me,” he said. “This is Goldie Hawn. This is Meg Ryan. She can do anything, and she will. You watch what the next 20 years of her experience will be. I’ll be on an island, I think Greece. But she’s special. There is no feud. She is love and I know that I am that to her. We care about each other very deeply.” Take a breath, my dude.
Another piece of the post-finale drama came from rumors that there were lots of on-set tensions, with Isaacs describing production as “a cross between summer camp and Lord of the Flies but in a gilded cage.” Wood kind of explains this away by saying they “never lived on a set” and likened filming to “experiencing basically a reality TV show.” She revealed that Patrick Schwarzenegger would hold big dinners or breakfasts to unite the cast, but said she and Goggins were like “foxes,” only running in and out to grab food.
“I don’t mean to sound like an asshole, it’s not method or anything, I just felt like I needed to stay in the space,” says Goggins. Wood agreed, “Both of us would get overwhelmed.” I don’t mean to sound like an asshole, but…you filmed a TV show, guys.
Goggins couldn’t make the finale’s premiere in Los Angeles because of another press tour, which, at the time, fueled even more rumors that he and Wood were fighting. But he says he “probably wouldn’t have gone” even if he could. Then Variety writes this: “But within 15 minutes of discussing the finale, both are tearing up and he admits to Wood, ‘I wish I would have been able to watch this with you. It was so cathartic and so painful, and I regret that. I really do.'”
I understand having Big feelings, and that the nature of a production (from a high school drama club to an Oscar-winning film) can form intense relationships between cast members…but they spent seven months at a five-star resort in Thailand, not three years on a remote island filming Naked & Afraid.
They also spoke about their experience together on set, and I’m just going to include the entire passage from Variety:
Visibly emotional seeing each other, the two embraced for 30 seconds as the Variety team suddenly felt we were intruding on a private moment. The laughter then began almost immediately, and their photo shoot transitioned into a dance party. After, they asked to step outside for a quick break.
“We were saying outside, ‘We can’t start crying!’ We’re the two most emotional, sensitive people!” Wood says with a laugh. But there’s a reason for the emotion.
There’s a reason that they’ve hugged multiple times, held each other’s hands and continuously exchanged compliments during our conversation.
Part of that is because of how much Wood helped Goggins through the darkness. “I was alone purposely in this experience — not selfishly, not narcissistically,” he says. “Everyone has their process. Mine is being alone. But Aimee as Chelsea wouldn’t let me do that.”
On set, she’d tell him, “You’re going into the sad, parallel world. Stay in the real one.”
I guess life really does imitate art. But I’m happy they’re not fighting, and I’m happy Variety got this unhinged exclusive. Chelsea and Rick forever.
- Speaking of press tours, I’m also excited yet already exhausted about Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s second round of Wicked interviews. [Pop Base]
- Wes Anderson can’t get Jodie Foster to work with him. [Entertainment Weekly]
- I didn’t know people were worried they weren’t, but Jennifer Lopez and Leah Remini are good! [Us Weekly]
- Kristin Cavallari reveals she once hooked up with Glen Powell. Good for her. [Just Jared]
- Idris Elba<3333333333333 [The Hollywood Reporter]
- “We all come from checkered, cracked lives, all of us,” Tom Hanks says of his daughter’s memoir, in which she accuses her mother of physical and emotional abuse. [People]
- Lorde is “kind of interested” in The Accountant 2. That is interesting. (Derogatory) [Pop Crave]
- After revealing the details of her boob job, Kylie Jenner‘s plastic surgeon is getting inundated with alls. [TMZ]
- Yes, we are all cringing at Meghan Markle and Harry‘s birth video. [Daily Beast]
Like what you just read? You’ve got great taste. Subscribe to Jezebel, and for $5 a month or $50 a year, you’ll get access to a bunch of subscriber benefits, including getting to read the next article (and all the ones after that) ad-free. Plus, you’ll be supporting independent journalism—which, can you even imagine not supporting independent journalism in times like these? Yikes.
GET JEZEBEL RIGHT IN YOUR INBOX
Still here. Still without airbrushing. Still with teeth.
