Everything that could be said about Aimee Lou Wood and Walton Goggins’ alleged on-set romance gone sour already exists somewhere on the internet. It had seemed like even they were tired of it and that we might never get any actual details from The White Lotus stars themselves. Somehow, though, fans got what they wanted. 4m1p5k

Goggins’ wife recently dismissed all the rumors about her husband’s alleged affair, chalking it up to him simply being more famous these days. Wood, however, hasn’t been asked nearly as much about the alleged romance or the infamous unfollowing shenanigans. But in a new sit-down with Variety, the two finally addressed the speculation — together.

It’s worth noting that Goggins had previously walked out of interviews for merely bringing up his co-star’s name, so this conversation was, by all s, highly unprecedented. Excitement was palpable when it was announced the two would sit down — it felt like a surprise bonus episode of the show’s third season.

Goggins was effusive in his praise of Aimee Lou Wood, getting intense about their first meeting: “It felt like I had already known her for 100 years.” The two apparently formed their own little pod separate from the rest of the cast, referring to themselves as “foxes” because they’d pick at meals and retreat into their cocoon — far from the large cast dinners often hosted by Patrick Schwarzenegger, who had his own on-set struggles.

Wood likened The White Lotus’s production to reality shows like Love Is Blind or Love Island, describing how the cast had to quickly adjust to a new location and blend personal and professional lives. Despite their mutual iration, the pair itted to being disappointed with how the final show turned out.

They expressed reverence for creator Mike White’s writing but revealed frustration that a love scene from the final episode was cut. They joked about demanding a director’s cut, calling the scene crucial to them both.

The conversation naturally shifted to the controversial SNL sketch that mocked Wood’s teeth. According to Wood, targeting her looks was misogynistic. Goggins’ initial decision to post the sketch and later delete it had caused a stir, but with hindsight, he now sees Wood as brave for speaking out in the first place.

That led them to the question everyone wanted answered: did the sketch cause a feud? Goggins shut that down quickly. 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. Watch what the next 20 years of her experience will be. I’ll be on an island Greece, I think. But she’s special. There is no feud. She is love. And I know I am that to her. We care about each other very deeply.”

So there you have it, folks. No on-set romance, no feud — just two ionate actors who care deeply about each other and their work. And we didn’t even have to wait for a post-career memoir for the full breakdown. Honestly, they better get an Emmy nod — if not for their acting, then at least for keeping the show in the zeitgeist this long.

Some way, somehow, The White Lotus became one of the defining shows of the decade. The anthology series somehow found a way to make fans not just invested in the characters but the actors who played them too — and it wasn’t long before Walton Goggins was linked to his onscreen love interest, Aimee Lou Wood.

The show’s run and its immediate aftermath led to one of the funniest cast dramas probably since Don’t Worry Darling. The cast were constantly following and unfollowing each other. Jason Isaacs was going on talk shows to talk about how shooting the series resembled a season of Survivor, calling the experience a “pressure cooker” where apparently alliances were formed and broken. But through all the chaos, there was one relationship that remains fans’ true north star.

During the show’s run, Walton Goggins spoke highly of Aimee Lou Wood. He told People, “We both became enmeshed in each other the way that Rick and Chelsea are, so I think the world of her.” However, soon after the show ended, the two suddenly unfollowed each other on Instagram — and to fuel even more rumors that there was a falling out behind the scenes, they even removed posts that gushed about what a pleasure it was working with each other.

But here’s the thing: Walton Goggins is married, and Isaacs also let the cat out of the bag saying there were romances on the set. Whose romance exactly? Fans assumed Goggins, of course. Goggins’ wife, Nadia Conners, has up until now been silent on the entire matter, but finally Hello Magazine caught up with her and she said: “It’s odd to see it, but it’s an indication of how much people were invested in the fictional characters. I take it as a sign that he’s become quite popular.”

Walton Goggins has been having quite a career indeed. He’s been one of those characters who never quite gets the lead role but silently builds one of the best catalogues in the business. But in 2025, he’s clearly going to hit the next level — with The White Lotus being followed up directly by Fallout and doing voice work in quite possibly the best season of Invincible.

But currently, Goggins is clearly over the Wood situation, and he’s no longer playing around with people who try to catch him with his foot in mouth. The Times UK unfortunately found themselves at the wrong end of his Southern charm and patience when they asked him about Aimee Lou Wood, only for him to sternly reply, “I’m not gonna have that conversation.” When they kept pressing, he ended the interview altogether.
So there you have it folks, it’s over. Hollywood is certainly full of onset romances and affairs, and some iconic couples even had their start in such situations. Goggins, however, is clearly past that particular moment in his life and will probably never revisit it. Unless we get a memoir at the twilight of his career like 20 years from now.

But for now, all Goggins wants to focus on is his family and career.

The rumored conflict between White Lotus co-stars Aimee Lou Wood and Walton Goggins has been the subject of a lot of speculation since the end of the show’s third season. The rumors, which were fueled by their social media activity and the fact that they were not seen interacting publicly, grew stronger after a Saturday Night Live sketch that made fun of Wood’s character.

The Met Gala 2025 gave them a chance to directly address the ongoing rumors. While both Wood and Goggins attended the event, they noticeably avoided each other on the red carpet. However, Wood took photos with their White Lotus co-star Patrick Schwarzenegger, who confirmed that he arrived at the event with Wood. This contrasted with Wood and Goggins’ lack of interaction, making it seem like there might still be some tension between them.

Wood tried hard to shut down the feud rumors during interviews at the Met Gala, according to Page Six. She clearly stated that she enjoyed working with Goggins, calling the experience “the best thing ever.” She also said she was excited about his appearance on Saturday Night Live, which seemed like an effort to downplay any remaining bad feelings.

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At first, she hesitated when asked if she would make a surprise appearance on the show with Goggins, but she eventually said no. She itted that she needed to talk things over with Goggins about what happened with the SNL sketch and their roles in White Lotus.

The speculation started in April 2025, not long after the season finale aired. Fans noticed that Wood and Goggins, who played the on-screen couple Chelsea and Rick, were not following each other on Instagram. This is often seen as a sign of tension among celebrities. Making things worse, the actors did not promote the show together and avoided tagging each other in cast photos on social media.

This lack of public collaboration and the fact that they didn’t follow each other online led to widespread rumors of a disagreement between them. The situation gets even more intense when Goggins publicly praises the Saturday Night Live sketch that mocks Wood’s character, specifically mentioning her teeth.

The Saturday Night Live parody, which was part of a “White Potus” skit, became a major point of tension. Wood first shared her feelings about the sketch on Instagram, which led to a lot of reactions online. She later explained that her emotional response was about the sketch and unrelated personal issues.

The situation quickly got out of hand, with Wood’s reaction being misunderstood and exaggerated by online discussions. She then tried to clarify, saying she was overwhelmed by how strongly people reacted and that the situation was much more complicated than it seemed at first.

Goggins had previously refused to talk about the rumored feud in an interview, giving a short and dismissive answer. His unwillingness to discuss it only made the rumors grow stronger. The reporter seemed uncomfortable after his response, showing how intense the situation was. By not addressing the rumors directly, Goggins made the media speculation even worse.

Unlike Goggins, Wood chose to actively respond to the rumors, though she focused on her own perspective and experiences. Her comments suggested that the drama had been blown out of proportion by the media and online discussions.

Aimee Lou Wood, who stars in HBO’s The White Lotus, suddenly found herself at the center of attention after photographers snapped pictures of her crying on the streets of London. At first, it seemed as if she was upset over a recent Saturday Night Live sketch that made fun of her role in The White Lotus.

Wood quickly posted on Instagram to set the record straight, explaining that her tears had nothing to do with the SNL skit, per Page 6. However, she later shared her thoughts about the sketch in a few Instagram stories. The SNL sketch, called “The White Potus,” was a parody of The White Lotus season three, swapping out the show’s main characters for Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

In the sketch, Sarah Sherman played Wood’s character, Chelsea, in a way that Wood found insulting. Sherman used an exaggerated British accent and wore fake teeth to imitate Wood’s appearance, which Wood took particular issue with.

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After the sketch aired, Wood spoke out on Instagram, calling it “unfunny and mean.” She said she was disappointed because the humor felt lazy and unoriginal, adding that there were smarter ways to poke fun at the show. She made it clear that she enjoys good satire but felt this parody crossed a line. Wood stressed that she isn’t overly sensitive and can handle jokes, but she thought the bit about her teeth was cruel and unfairly singled her out.

She pointed out that having a gap-toothed smile isn’t something that should be mocked, saying it’s not a flaw that deserves mean-spirited humor. Things got more complicated when Wood’s White Lotus co-star, Walton Goggins, had a completely different reaction to the sketch. Unlike Wood, Goggins publicly praised the parody on his Instagram, found by NY Post, using excited language to say how much he liked it.

Since Wood and Goggins don’t follow each other on social media and haven’t promoted the show together, this difference in opinion led to rumors that the two might not get along behind the scenes. Some fans even speculated that there was tension between them during the filming of The White Lotus season three, especially since other cast had hinted at possible conflicts before.

You’d think in the year of our lord, 2025, we’d be over making fun of people for their appearance, but apparently SNL didn’t get the memo. Now the sketch comedy show is under fire from fans due to a joke directed at The White Lotus star, Aimee Lou Wood.

On social media fans of the actress called out the skit titled “White Potus,” which saw caricatures of Donald Trump and his cabinet in place of the show’s original characters. While most of the comedy derived from poking fun at the president, the sketch was criticized for punching down, when comedian Sarah Sherman appeared as a caricature of Wood with exaggerated prominent teeth and a British accent.

Aimee Lou Wood appeared in the third season of The White Lotus as Chelsea and she quickly became a fan fave. The actress has also appeared in the popular Netflix shows Sex Education and Toxic Town.

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Taking to Instagram the star gave her thoughts on the jokes about her appearance. She started off defending HBO, telling fans nobody at the network called her ugly, and that it was her own “paranoid” thoughts. She clarified that she spiralled after hearing showrunner, Mike White fought for her to be cast but that “HBO have been nothing but super ive.”

The actress then continued, “But whilst in honest mode – I did find the SNL thing mean and unfunny xo.” That’s a pretty fair assessment if you ask me. Wood continued, writing, “Such a shame cuz I had such a great time watching it a couple years ago. Yes, take the p*** for sure – that’s how the show is – but there must be a cleverer, more nuanced, less cheap way?”

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Thankfully Wood wasn’t alone in thinking the jokes were out of order. Many fans agreed and took to social media to call out SNL for the mean-spirited joke. One person on X compared it to “kicking a kitten for no reason.”

Others responded directly to Wood’s Instagram story voicing their for the actress. One person pointed out that everyone else being mocked was a political figure whereas Chelsea was the only character who wasn’t political and was only mocked for her physical appearance. Wood thanked fans for agreeing with her and itted that she was glad she had said something after all.

The main issue with the joke was that it just wasn’t funny. Wood, in a later Instagram post, writes that she isn’t “thin-skinned” and that she’s ok with jokes being made about her, but in this case “Chelsea was the only one punched down on.” In another post the actress informs her fans that she’s “had apologies from SNL.”

The last episode of The White Lotus season three left fans stunned. However, no one may have felt it as strongly as Aimee Lou Wood, the actress who played the Chelsea.

• Warning: Spoilers for The White Lotus season three ahead.

Aime Lou Wood’s character’s sudden death—caught in the middle of a violent clash after several eerie warnings—shocked viewers and caused a lot of online debate. But beyond the surprise, Wood’s thoughts on Chelsea’s death, shared in a recent Variety interview, add a deeper, more emotional layer to how we see the character’s story and her final scene.

Wood’s connection to Chelsea started long before filming. She found out her character would die during her callback audition, a detail she held onto for months, which gave her performance a unique emotional depth. At first, Wood saw Chelsea’s relationship with her unstable boyfriend, Rick, as more of a business arrangement. The early audition scenes made it seem like a “sugar daddy” situation.

Aime Lou Wood knew her character’s death was coming before the show started filming f573f

When she got the later scripts, her view changed completely. New scenes showed Chelsea’s real, undeniable love for Rick, reshaping Wood’s take on the character. Chelsea’s story became less about a woman trapped with a dangerous man and more about a tragic romance, ending in a sudden, heartbreaking way.

She said that her death was known far before, “I was actually told in my callback, so that’s how long I’ve been holding this in. Honestly, I can’t stop talking to everyone who’s asking me questions, because it’s like a dam’s burst.”

This shift in understanding is clear when Wood talks about Chelsea’s last moments. Originally, the script had Chelsea say one final line about the “bad luck comes in threes” warning, but Wood and showrunner Mike White decided to cut it. Wood was glad they did, believing silence made the moment stronger. Without words, the scene captured Chelsea’s grief, heartbreak, and the total collapse of her usually lively, talkative personality. That silence, Wood said, made the moment hit harder, emphasizing the finality of her death and how deeply she was tied to Rick.

Wood’s take on Chelsea and Rick’s relationship is especially thoughtful. She doesn’t just call it “toxic”—instead, she describes it as possibly “post-toxic,” showing a complexity that goes beyond typical bad relationships. While their bond was clearly destructive, Wood suggests they were drawn together by their shared self-destructive streaks, not just power struggles or cruelty. Both Chelsea and Rick were stubborn and reckless with their own lives, which ultimately led them to ruin each other.

She said, “I think it’s even post-toxic. It almost goes full circle to being very pure, because I don’t think there’s malice in it. I think for something to be a toxic relationship, there’s got to be some kind of control. There’s a power dynamic. There’s a this, there’s a that — and there is in Rick and Chelsea… He’s getting what he wants, which is revenge, and she’s getting what she wants, which is him, right?”

Wood also makes a strong case for Chelsea’s independence. Some viewers might see her as just a victim of Rick’s actions, but Wood believes Chelsea actively chose to stay with him, even as things got worse. The trip to Thailand wasn’t just Rick’s idea—Chelsea kept pushing to go with him, showing her own stubbornness, even if it put her in danger. In her final moments, she doesn’t try to escape the violence; she stays, accepting that her fate is tied to Rick’s.

The much-talked-about “bad luck comes in threes” foreshadowing also gets a fresh look from Wood. While some critics thought it was too obvious, she argues that the predictability actually added depth to Chelsea’s character. At first, it seemed like a cheap plot device, but when the warning came true, it gave Chelsea a kind of tragic dignity—she was right, even though people often saw her as silly or naive.

The White Lotus and Sex Education star Aimee Lou Wood is giving us life in season 3 of Mike White’s delightfully screwed-up anthology series. Her character Chelsea is a quirky twenty-something trying to muster some optimism in her older, grumpy boyfriend (Walter Goggins). Wood is a fantastic addition with differences that make her unique — and she knows it.

30-year-old Wood told The Hollywood Reporter she was nervous about starring alongside some of Hollywood’s best character actors. “These people live in Holly­wood,” she said. “I live in my little flat in south east London, and I’m so British in my sensibility that I wasn’t sure how to handle being around so many people who are so front-footed and confident.”

However, Wood is used to taking “the p*** out of” herself. She thinks humor is a good coping strategy for nerves about Hollywood ideals, and that refusing to assimilate is rock and roll. Talking about social media season 3 reactions, she added, “the way [The White Lotus fans] are talking about me and my teeth — that I don’t have veneers or Botox — it feels a bit rebellious.” After spending much of her life “worrying about being weird,” Wood now thinks it could be her “superpower.”

The English actor has spoken about her recognizable smile and how her teeth have or haven’t impacted her career, given she hasn’t buckled under the pressure of having work done to ‘fix’ them. In a 2020 Stylist interview, she explained she didn’t feel they had been a “barrier” when booking acting gigs. “It’s completely in my head,” Wood said. “It’s a myth I’ve told myself. I had it in my brain that I’m not conventional-looking enough and that’s a mental barrier I’ve had to overcome.”

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Wood’s breakout role in Sex Education was primarily where she worked through these anxieties. She received “hundreds” of messages from people who related to her, seeing themselves on screen in her character and feeling more confident as a result.

Though she’s extremely English, Wood its that some American culture rubbed off on her while shooting in Thailand. “I would be more confident now to talk to a director about an idea I have, or just to make shit happen,” she states. “The first thing I did out of drama school was a play, and I thinking it was so cool that I was getting paid for it. Then I got Sex Education and thought it was just a fluke; even when it erupted, I figured my success would . It was basically just last week that I woke up and went, ‘What the hell is my life?’”

Though her casting in The White Lotus was an outside-the-box pick, you’d never think it while watching the episodes. Wood has nailed the slightly delusional but incredibly lovable nature of her character. Chelsea’s quirks (motor mouth, playfully nagging her boyfriend into being a happier person, making a fuss when she doesn’t get her way) solidified her as one of the lighter players in season 3, giving us a break from the much tenser dynamics.

Clearly, those worries about her teeth are in the past. Especially since White included a line early in the season where Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) declares “I love your teeth!” Whether the line is jokingly setting up the next one, “Where are you from?”, or is a genuine celebration of her smile (probably a bit of both), Wood’s cool with it.