‘The White Lotus’ stars Walton Goggins and Aimee Lee Wood shoot down beef rumours: “There is no feud. We care about each other very deeply”

Walton Goggins and Aimee Lee Wood, stars of The White Lotus season three have shot down the months-long rumours of their alleged beef – see what they had to say below.

• READ MORE: What next for ‘The White Lotus’ after its tragic season three ending

The two played an unlikely couple in Chelsea and Rick in the third season of the Mike White-directed HBO series, and following its tragic finale, internet sleuths deduced there was tension between them.

After the last episode aired, many took note that while Goggins thanked his co-star in a lengthy post about Rick and Chelsea’s fate, Wood wasn’t tagged in the post, which the rest of the cast was. Fans also pointed out that Goggins had unfollowed Wood on Instagram.

This was amplified after Goggins praised a controversial Saturday Night Live sketch that saw Sarah Sherman play a version of Wood’s Chelsea by sporting exaggerated fake teeth, prompting Wood to describe the sketch as “mean and unfunny”. Wood went on to reveal that she received a rare apology from the show and a bouquet of flowers from Sarah Sherman, who portrayed her in the sketch.

Now, after months of speculation, both Goggins and Wood have sat down with Variety for a tell-all interview, in which they addressed why Goggins unfollowed her on social media, shut down previous questions on the “feud”, where they’re at in their friendship and the infamous SNL sketch.

First tackling rumours of a feud, Goggins said: “There is no feud. I adore, I love this woman madly, and she is so important to me. 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.”

Aimee Lee Wood then transitioned the conversation to his unfollowing of her on Instagram: “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. Why not have conversations about the story and Rick and Chelsea and enjoy it? Eventually I just started to sit back and watch these people making something out of absolutely nothing.”

Goggins chimed in: “If I may add, just to put this to bed? The following or unfollowing. I’m a grown-ass man.” He then explained that he did the same thing on Justified and other roles: “When I left 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.”

• READ MORE: ‘The White Lotus’ season three review: irresistible holiday soap remains TV’s most essential destination

He went on: “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. 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.”

“I needed to just back away from everyone,” Goggins explained. “I haven’t spoken to anyone. I couldn’t handle it. Judge me or don’t. I don’t give a fuck 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.”

Variety notes that Goggin was emotional at this point, and appeared to be crying. He later got up from his seat to grab his phone to re-follow her on Instagram: “You know what? I’ll follow you right now! It’s all so ridiculous. It’s just a part of me just saying goodbye to this character so that now Aimee and I will be friends for fucking ever.”

As for Wood’s part, she told him she “completely understands” his process and was supportive of him.

Elsewhere in the interview, the pair also addressed SNL mocking Aimee Lee Wood. She said: “I know for a fact a man wrote that. It wasn’t Sarah Sherman, don’t hate on her. I didn’t like the concept. Take the piss out of me. Do the teeth! I’ve got the teeth, but, like… The punch line should not be how I look. That’s what bothered me. Do the caricature, because that’s what SNL is. It felt misogynistic. It felt like the punch line was a woman’s appearance, which is just not funny. It’s not cool.”

Goggins then hit out at people dissecting his post on the sketch as a jab at his co-star: “Then the next day, I made a vicious swipe against my friend? I’ve been posting for 14 fucking years, and if I’m gonna say something, but I’m gonna say it to your face. I don’t use social media in any way, and I’m not a mean guy.”

A confirmed conflict that emerged from the show’s third season was between creator Mike White and composer Cristóbal Tapia de Veer, due to disagreements over the theme tune. Tapia de Veer won’t be returning for season four, and White called the composer’s public comments about the feud “kind of a bitch move”.

Elsewhere, Jason Isaacs, who played Timothy Ratliff, disgraced patriarch of a wealthy South Carolina family on holiday at the Thailand resort, commented on the various rumours and drama that has followed the cast past the show’s end: “So I’ve said a few times, ‘You make friends. You lose friends, romances or whatever; things happen between departments and all the backstage drama that we’re all used to.’ Well, the online world went mad trying to deconstruct, trying to work out who knew who and who was [doing what].” He added: “I’d like to return to my normal life, but I don’t know how people who are uber-famous deal with it.”

The post ‘The White Lotus’ stars Walton Goggins and Aimee Lee Wood shoot down beef rumours: “There is no feud. We care about each other very deeply” appeared first on NME.