Co-stars from The White Lotus, Aimee Lou Wood and Walton Goggins, have finally addressed the rumors surrounding their alleged off-screen conflict.
Wood and Goggins appear as an unlikely couple in HBO’s The White Lotus. The series has a fourth season on the horizon, but fans have been preoccupied with rumors of tension between the two actors off-camera.
Speculation began when cast member Jason Isaacs hinted at some ‘drama’ occurring behind the scenes. The rumors gained traction when observant fans noticed that Goggins, aged 53, had unfollowed Wood, aged 31, on Instagram.
The situation seemed to worsen when Goggins praised an SNL sketch that Wood had criticized as ‘cheap’ and ‘unfunny,’ for making jokes about her appearance.
The sketch, titled The White POTUS, mocked Wood’s teeth with the character portraying her wearing large fake teeth and questioning: “Fluoride? What’s that?”
In response to a social media post, Goggins commented: “Hahahahahhahaha Amazzzingggg,” leaving it unclear if he referred to the sketch as a whole or specifically the jab at Wood.
According to The Metro, Goggins later removed his comments, but this did not quell the rumors.
Last month, Goggins avoided discussing the issue during an interview with The Times’ reporter Ed Potton, saying: “I’m not gonna have that conversation.
“There is no conversation to be had about that. Sharing politics on social media — it’s in a vacuum,” he elaborated.
In a recent interview with Variety, the pair addressed the rumors definitively.
“Why is everyone obsessing over Instagram? That is irrelevant. We don’t give a sh***e about Instagram,” Wood remarked.
Goggins added: “If I may add, just to put this to bed? The following or unfollowing. I’m a grown-a** man.”
He explained he wanted to distance himself from ‘everyone’ as part of his process.
“I couldn’t handle it. Judge me or don’t. I don’t give a f**k what you think. This is my process. Rick means everything to me, and Chelsea means everything to me. And so that’s what I needed to do for me to process all of this,” he concluded before describing the ordeal as ‘ridiculous.’
“It’s just a part of me, just saying goodbye to this character so that now Aimee and I will be friends for f***ing ever,” Goggins said, having re-followed his co-star.
“There is no feud,” he reiterated. “I adore, I love this woman madly, and she is so important to me.”
Regarding why he abruptly ended his previous interview with The Times, he stated he would ‘never’ speak on behalf of both of them and claimed the reporter made a comparison between his and Wood’s teeth, which left him ‘disgusted and flabbergasted’.
Wood commented: “How horrible!”
This revelation coincides with Wood’s criticism of the SNL sketch at the time, stating: “Yes, take the p**s for sure – that’s what the show is about – but there must be a cleverer, more nuanced, less cheap way?
“I am not thin-skinned. I actually love being taken the p**s out of when it’s clever and in good spirits. But the joke was about fluoride. I have big gap teeth, not bad teeth.
“I don’t mind caricature – I understand that’s what SNL is. But the rest of the skit was punching up and I/Chelsea was the only one punched down on… Okay end of.”