If you believe Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood, reports of their feud have been greatly exaggerated. In a cover story for Variety, the doomed White Lotus couple set the record straight on a number of topics—most importantly, the status of their buzzed about off-screen relationship: “There is no feud,” said Goggins.
Goggins and Wood starred in the third season of White Lotus as Rick and Chelsea, an opposites-attract, volatile, age-gap couple who met their untimely demise in the season finale of Mike White’s hotel-murder anthology. Their chemistry was so electric that the public got invested in the status of their off-screen relationship—particularly after they realized that they no longer followed one another on Instagram, and that they each had posted emotional tributes to their characters set to the song “Silver Springs” by famously messy band Fleetwood Mac.
Had a rift occurred between the two onscreen lovers? Wood and Goggins say no. The two actors told Variety that they had only seen each other once since the season finale of White Lotus before sitting for their joint photoshoot and interview. Their reunion was “a visibly emotional one” where the “two embraced for 30 seconds,” according to Variety. The photoshoot reportedly devolved into “a dance party” between the two, and afterward they stepped outside together for a quick break.
In the interview, Goggins strongly affirmed that they are on great terms. “There is no feud. I adore, I love this woman madly, and she is so important to me,” he said. He reportedly got teary-eyed before comparing Wood to movie stars like Goldie Hawn and Meg Ryan. “She can do anything, and she will,” he continued. “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.”
Beyond their alleged feud, both Wood and Goggins had their own personal drama to clear up as well. In April, Wood became the subject of public discourse after she called out Saturday Night Live for a White Lotus parody sketch that included a “mean and unfunny” impression of her. Wood told Variety that “she was over it the minute I said it,” and that she was also dismayed anyone assumed she was upset with Goggins for agreeing to host SNL.
“I was so upset when people [said that],” she says. “For fuck’s sake, of course Walton should do SNL. That’s got nothing to do with me. He’s fucking had a career for, like, how long?” In the interview, she defended Sarah Sherman, who played Wood in the sketch, while maintaining that she found the parody “misogynistic” and hyper-focused on her appearance, specifically her teeth. (“I was excited to play her because she’s so iconic, her character is so iconic, and I fucking obviously never meant to hurt anyone’s feelings,” Sherman recently told Vanity Fair. “Never in a million years did I get into comedy to make anyone upset. I feel terrible that anyone would feel bad.”)
Goggins left a positive comment on a video of the sketch before he says he realized Wood was upset, and then he deleted the comment a few hours later. “I’ve been posting for 14 fucking years, and if I’m gonna say something, but I’m gonna say it to your face,” he told Variety of the incident. “I don’t use social media in any way, and I’m not a mean guy.” He was wholly supportive of Wood during the interview, telling her at one point, “You have the most beautiful smile in the world. You know that.”
Goggins addressed another incident as well: When he abruptly ended an interview with the UK Times after repeatedly being asked about the status of his relationship with Wood. Goggins said the interviewer’s comments had a “divisive nature,” and that he asked if Goggins and Wood bonded over their teeth. This is what ultimately set him off, the actor said. “What he was insinuating, it was so disgusting. It was so appalling. I was flabbergasted. And I said, ‘Fuck mate, wow. I think we’re done here.’”
The last bit of drama the pair cleared up dealt with the alleged Instagram unfollowing. First of all, said Wood, “We don’t give a shite about Instagram.” Goggins had similar opinions on the subject. “If I may add, just to put this to bed? The following or unfollowing. I’m a grown-ass man,” he said. He went on to claim that he’s not great at saying goodbye.
“I needed to just back away from everyone” after White Lotus came to an end, Goggins said. “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.”
Goggins ended the interview by re-following Wood on Instagram, putting that chapter to bed. “It’s all so ridiculous,” he said. “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.” Sure, something like that.
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