Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood – who played Rick Hackett and his Chelsea in The White Lotus – have broken their silence months after their reported feud
Their on-screen chemistry and complicated love story left White Lotus viewers enthralled – but that didn’t help stop rumours of a backstage feud between actors Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood after one particularly awkward social media interaction.
But the pair, who played mysterious Rick Hackett and his girlfriend Chelsea, have finally spoken out – revealing why they’ve only seen each other once since season three’s February premiere.
And Walton, unable to hold back his emotions, declared “I love this woman madly” about Aimee in a bid to set the record straight.
Two months since the show’s dramatic finale, the pair have reunited for Variety magazine as they got up close and personal once again. Speaking of the moment they met for the very first time, Aimee revealed he had texted her to come over for lunch. She said: “I didn’t know what to order. I was like, ‘Can you pick for me?’ I was so nervous.”
Walton added: “The minute she walked around the corner, I felt, ‘This is gonna work. Two minutes into the conversation, it felt like I’ve known this person for 100 years.”
Despite suggestions of a feud, Walton was also very keen to reiterate that Aimee is “so important” to him as he began to choke up.
He told the magazine: “There is no feud. I adore, I love this woman madly, and she is so important to me.” Turning to Aimee, he continued: “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 also responded to the feud rumours and Walton unfollowing her on Instagram, which she doesn’t appear fussed about at all.
“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 s***e about Instagram,” she said.
While she had initially wanted to respond to the feud claims over the following, Aimee said that she decided to just “sit back and watch these people making something out of absolutely nothing”.
Explaining further about the unfollowing, Walton – whose first wife tragically died by suicide in 2004 – suggested that he simply wasn’t good with goodbyes and unfollowed anyone who was part of the show after filming wrapped up.
In tears, he said: “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.”
Walton went on to say that he had just needed to take a step back from everyone after filming ended and he hasn’t spoken to anyone as he “couldn’t handle it”. He added: “Judge me or don’t. I don’t give a f*** what you think. This is my process. Rick means everything to me, and Chelsea means everything to me.”
As the interview wrapped up, Walton declared that he would follow Aimee on Instagram again, declaring it all “ridiculous” and that he would be friends with her “for f***ing ever”.
Crying again as he hugged his former co-star, Walton added: “I’m emotional because we haven’t been in the same city to ever talk about this. So for me, this is just so wonderful.”
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