Aimee Lou Wood and Walton Goggins
Rick and Chelsea, the tragic lovers from the third season of HBO’s The White Lotus, were fan favorites during the show’s run earlier this year. The actors who played them also became the center of much gossip after the season came to a close.
This was partly due to comments made by Jason Isaac, who played troubled investment banker Timothy Ratliff, in the third season. The cast lived on-set in Thailand for months during the shoot, and Isaac said that tensions could sometimes run high, noting that there were “fewer deaths but just as much drama” behind the scenes.
Rumors of a split between Walton Goggins, who played Rick, and Aimee Lou Wood, who played Chelsea, reached fever pitch when fans noticed that Goggins had unfollowed his co-star on Instagram. Fandom is always thirsty for this kind of drama, but perhaps especially so for a series like The White Lotus, which is all about scandal, betrayal and the woes of the rich and famous. There was blood in the water, and the sharks came circling.
Goggins also didn’t join his fellow cast members at the finale event, watching it alone instead, though he was in New York for a late-night appearance at the time.
I never commented on these rumors. Tawdry gossip has never been something I feel the need or desire to comment on. Gossip journalism is certainly big business, but it’s not my cup of tea. I am happy, however, to report on the outcome. In a lengthy interview with the two co-stars over at Variety, they clear the air and put the rumors to bed once and for all. After a discussion of the infamous SNL sketch that mocked Wood’s appearance, and Goggins’ regret at posting about it on social media, they clear the air.
From the interview:
“There is no feud. I adore, I love this woman madly, and she is so important to me,” he says, getting choked up. Goggins turns to look at Wood. “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.”
He also addressed the NYT interview in which he refused to answer multiple questions about the supposed feud, saying he wouldn’t answer them without Wood present.
When Wood is asked about the Instagram unfollowing she replies:
“I think it’s such a comment on where we’re at culturally. Why is everyone obsessing over Instagram? That is irrelevant. We don’t give a shite about Instagram,” she says. “Why not have conversations about the story and Rick and Chelsea and enjoy it?”
Goggins makes it clear that saying farewell to co-stars is just part of his process. When he left the show Justified “I went up to Tim [Olyphant], and I hugged him and I said, ‘I love you, and I hope I see you in rooms for the rest of my life. I didn’t talk to him for almost two years. I’ve done that with every single thing that I’ve done.”
He continues:
“My catharsis in this experience was different than other people’s, because of my history in this place. I knew what we had gone through, and I knew how close that we had gotten, and I needed to begin to process saying goodbye to Rick and Chelsea,” Goggins says, beginning to cry. “And I knew that that was going to take a while for me, so I let her know, this is what I’ve gotta do. And she was extremely supportive about that.”
It’s all part of his “catharsis” according to Goggins. He would have done the same thing if he’d been following Olyphant or his The Shield co-star Michael Chiklis on Instagram at the time.
Still, during the interview he gets up, grabs his phone and follows Wood on Instagram. “It’s all so ridiculou. It’s just a part of me just saying goodbye to this character so that now Aimee and I will be friends for *#$&ing ever.”
Read the full interview at Variety. Read my review of the Season 3 finale of The White Lotus here.
So now that the rumors have been put to bed, can we talk about something important again? Like where we think the next season of The White Lotus will take place? I’m hoping it’s Africa or maybe Eastern Europe. Or perhaps somewhere in South America or Mexico. It’s a big world, after all.
