Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood: The debunked ‘White Lotus' feud explained

"There is no feud." The words—a quote from The White Lotus star Walton Goggins—that top Variety's joint interview with him and his costar Aimee Lou Wood are very direct. They seek to bring to a close a sort of Schrödinger's drama around the third season of Mike White's resort-based anthology.
Internet sleuths were convinced that the on-screen couple was feuding, despite no direct evidence existing and both sides denying the rumors. But if they hadn't had a falling out, then why did they unfollow each other on Instagram? Doesn't that have to mean something?
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Just as Emmys season is kicking into full-swing, a joint interview puts the whole matter to bed. So what was this all about? What—if anything—actually happened? Why did anyone care?
That last one might be too big of a question to answer in this article, but here's everything else you need to know about Goggins, Wood, and the story surrounding them.
The backstory Viewers of the Thailand-based third season of The White Lotus watched as the star-crossed, age-gapped tragic lovers Rick and Chelsea marched toward doom together in a beautiful resort. Everything appeared to be just as loving off-camera, where they had the kind of relationship that involved Goggins posting things like "You are the brightest light in every room. A Human's Human. Miss you," on Wood's Instagram.
But in the months that followed, something changed. Specifically, both of their Following lists. Internet sleuths realized that Goggins and Wood had mutually unfollowed each other on the platform and left it to everyone who cared to connect the dots.
And, of course, no one was chill about it.
The foundation of the rumor seems to have come from context-free quotes their costar Jason Isaacs gave to The Guardian during a preview piece for the season. "There were alliances that formed and broke, romances that formed and broke, friendships that formed and broke," he said. "It's a long period of time for people to be away from their family with an open bar and all the wildness being in Thailand allows."
Talking around it The first big refutation of the rumor came from Goggins. But it wasn't an outright denial and mainly added fuel to the fire.
While speaking with The Times, the actor seemed to get frustrated by questions about the potential feud, but that could have been due to the interview being pegged to an entirely different project. "I'm not gonna have that conversation," he said, before later adding, "There is no conversation to be had about that."
A few days after that story was published, both Goggins and Wood attended the Met Gala, but were not photographed together. Fielding a question about whether she would stop by her costar's upcoming Saturday Night Live hosting gig, Wood—who had weeks before been mocked on the show—responded "I'm not doing that," then added "Yeah, why not? Why not? Yeah, it would be fun."
The interview The cover story dates the interview to the first weekend in May, which winds back the clock a bit for those timestamping the drama. The meet-up was their first in months and was, from the trade's account, quite emotional. "Visibly emotional seeing each other, the two embraced for 30 seconds as the Variety team suddenly felt we were intruding on a private moment."
The interview with The Times had come out just days before the Variety interview and was fresh in Goggins' mind. He spoke directly to the rumors. "There is no feud," he said, at one point getting choked up. "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."
Wood took a broader view of the controversy, saying that it was indicative of where we are culturally. "Why is everyone obsessing over Instagram?" she said. "That is irrelevant. We don't give a sh-te 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."
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CBS News

19 minutes ago

• CBS News

Patrick Schwarzenegger on his breakout "White Lotus" role

"Every time I'm out in, like, nature, that's kind of where I like to do my prayers or gratitude list," said Patrick Schwarzenegger. These days he is counting his blessings, even though the role he was recently blessed with is anything but reverent. He plays the much-talked-about (and much-hated) Saxon Ratliff, the eldest son of a wealthy family visiting Thailand, in the latest incarnation of HBO's "The White Lotus." Saxon is a chiseled car crash – a sex-obsessed, protein shake-chugging bro who is so irredeemably into his own masculinity, he offends even his own sister. How do you even audition for a part like that? Schwarzenegger says he was only given a short sentence describing Saxon's excitable personality: "The wording was that ''He flirted with anything.' So, I just took the first few seconds and just kind of, you know, stared at the camera in a loving way." Did he have any reservations? "Yes, I was worried," he said. "I didn't want him to come off as just this one-note character." And early on he didn't even know yet just how sexually awkward things were going to get. "When I was auditioning, they had said, 'Are you okay with, know, performing things sexually? Are you okay being nude at times?'" Schwarzenegger recalled. "So, I knew an idea of where it could go. I didn't know to what extent the show would go." To watch a trailer for Season 3 of "The White Lotus," click on the video player below: The series' creator, Mike White, has spent three seasons pushing the envelope, writing exotic whodunits that, along the way, skewer the rich and privileged vacationing at White Lotus resorts all around the world – a world he knew Patrick probably understood. Schwarzenegger said, "There was a joke because he was always like, 'You don't look like you're rich. You're not walking rich. Aren't you a Schwarzenegger? Aren't you a Kennedy? Aren't you rich in real life? You don't look like you're rich at all!'" The show's first season, set in Hawaii, debuted during the pandemic in 2021, and it hit Schwarzenegger and his family head-on. "It was me, Abby, my fiancée, and my mom," he said. "We lived together, us three, during the pandemic. So, you can imagine how fun that was! And then they were always like, 'You need to be in the show, you need to audition, this is perfect.'" His fiancée is fashion model Abby Champion; his mom is journalist and member of the Kennedy clan Maria Shriver; and his dad, well, that goes without saying. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said that he didn't recognize his son in the role. "It would be a little bit alarming if he did recognize a lot of those characteristics!" Patrick laughed. His best friends are his family. They're also his greatest fans. When he got the part, they were tears all around. Patrick Schwarzenegger has emerged from "The White Lotus," as a standout among standouts – the kind of breakout he hopes will put to rest any suspicions about nepotism. 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"My dad put me in charge of his memorabilia when I was 10," said Patrick. "And so, I would take these different photos of him, you know, at Muscle Beach, and we would frame them. I took a replica of the Conan swords and get him to sign them, and I would sell them for $10,000 a pop. It was all for nonprofit. I didn't make any money, but it was to understand how to sell." He actually majored in business as USC, starting college just about a year after his parents had left the California Governor's office. Politics has been in his genes, after all – and so has the idea of public service. His grandfather, Sargent Shriver, was the founding director of the Peace Corps. His grandmother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics. Asked if he's thought about going into politics himself, Patrick replied, "I think it was instilled in us to find ways to give back at an early age. It doesn't have to be through public office, to find ways to give back." Through it all, his focus on acting remained pretty singular. He spent a decade in acting class, building a resume one part at a time, recently acting opposite Colin Firth in the HBO mini-series, "The Staircase." That, he said, "was the first time that the people in the industry were able to see me in a dramatic role. ... Before, people maybe didn't take me serious. They didn't know if I was really, you know, in it for the long haul, was I really working on my craft?" WATCH: "The White Lotus" clip: Saxon and Timothy In this scene, Saxon Ratliff (Patrick Schwarzenegger) demands to know from his dad, Timothy (Jason Isaacs) whether everything is OK at the office. [Spoiler alert: Everything is NOT OK at the office.] He hopes his next role will be a character with a few less character flaws than Saxon Ratliff. That said, Patrick Schwarzenegger would happily check back into the White Lotus anytime Mike White asks. "I said, if you don't hire me again, I'll come and be the head of craft services," he said. "I'll come and hire me as your scouting location guy because I just want to come in and be part of the journey." For more info: Story produced by Reid Orvedahl. Editor: Lauren Barnello. See also:

Newsweek

2 hours ago

• Newsweek

Prince Harry and Meghan's Biggest U.S. Scandals

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Meghan re-created the curtsy she said she performed, bowing at the waist and spreading her arms wide in either direction. "I mean, Americans would understand this," she said. "We have Medieval Times Dinner & was like that." She had previously described the meeting to Oprah Winfrey in 2021 without mentioning any issues with her curtsy, and Harry went on to say it was "flawless" in his memoir, Spare. Many came away feeling the mock curtsy had disrespected a long-standing British tradition, and the fact that the queen had died three months earlier no doubt did not help. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Invictus Games in Vancouver, Canada, on February 9, 2025. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Invictus Games in Vancouver, Canada, on February 9, 2025. Samir Hussein/WireImage Prince Harry Mocked Over Frostbite Harry's book, Spare, was released a month later and led to ridicule after he described in detail applying his mother's favorite Elizabeth Arden lip cream to his frost-bitten private parts. "My penis was oscillating between extremely sensitive and borderline traumatized," he wrote. "The last place I wanted to be was Frostnipistan. "I'd been trying some home remedies, including one recommended by a friend. She'd urged me to apply Elizabeth Arden cream. My mum used that on her lips. 'You want me to put that on my todger?' "'It works, Harry. Trust me.' I found a tube, and the minute I opened it, the smell transported me through time. I felt as if my mother was right there in the room. "Then I took a smidge and applied there. 'Weird' doesn't really do the feeling justice." Suffice it to say, the passage attracted the attention of quite a few late-night U.S. comedy shows. 'F****** Grifters' and the Collapse of Spotify Just months later, the Sussexes' Spotify deal collapsed, and just as their team was reassuring journalists the two had parted ways by mutual consent, up popped an executive at the streaming giant to derail the PR strategy. Bill Simmons used his own podcast to fire a parting shot at the couple: "I wish I had been involved in the Meghan and Harry leave Spotify negotiation. 'The F****** Grifters,' that's the podcast we should have launched with them. "I gotta get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry, trying to help him with a podcast idea. It's one of my best stories." Meghan a 'Dictator in High Heels' Meghan had long been fending off allegations that she bullied staff at Kensington Palace as a working royal. The scandal migrated to America in September 2024 with an article from The Hollywood Reporter headlined: "Why Hollywood Keeps Quitting on Harry and Meghan." The article quoted a source who said the couple's U.S. staff were terrified of Meghan and that the royal belittled people. Another source said Meghan marched around "like a dictator in high heels," and has reduced grown men to tears. Meghan's team launched a PR counterattack in the pages of Us Weekly, where several past and present staffers praised her. She has consistently denied the allegations of bullying. Prince Harry's ESPY Award In 2024, Prince Harry was awarded the ESPY's Pat Tillman Award for Service, sparking a major backlash from sports fans. At its peak, Mary Tillman, Pat's mother, told The Mail on Sunday: "I am shocked as to why they would select such a controversial and divisive individual to receive the award. There are recipients that are far more fitting." 'South Park' and the 'Worldwide Privacy Tour' Harry's memoir sparked a collapse in the couple's U.S. approval rating, and in the same way that a picture can tell a thousand words, an episode of South Park ridiculing the duke and duchess appeared to tell the story of a shift in American perceptions. The episode, titled "The Worldwide Privacy Tour," depicted the "Prince and Princess of Canada" campaigning for their privacy in the aftermath of the death of the "Queen of Canada." In one scene, the couple appears on a fictional Canadian morning show, holding "We Want Privacy" placards. The anchor asks the prince: "Let me start with you, sir. You lived a life with the royal family, you had everything handed to you but you say your life has been hard and now you've written all about it in your new book: Waaagh." The princess said: "I was totally like, 'You should write a book 'cause your family's, like, stupid and then so are, like, journalists." The interviewer says, "So you hate journalists? And now you wrote a book that reports on the lives of the royal family? So, you're a journalist." Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page. Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@ We'd love to hear from you.

Cosmopolitan

4 hours ago

• Cosmopolitan

Breaking down the action-packed ending of ‘The Waterfront' season one

Within the span of seven episodes, Netflix's latest drama series The Waterfront has unraveled the perfect façade of the wealthy Buckley family, showing the dark and ugly things they've been hiding from Havenport society, from their employees, and from each other. The eighth and final episode of The Waterfront season one is a satisfying culmination of events, tying a lot of loose ends together neatly – more-or-less. Though, of course, because drugs, guns, fishing boats, family drama, and a sociopathic narcissistic bad guy are involved, it's definitely a messy, intense, and bloody battle to the finish. Besides all the action, audiences also get to see some heartwarming moments, redemption arcs, and a tease of what might be another season to come—with a whole new captain possibly taking charge of the Buckley family ship. A lot certainly happens within the span of the finale's 43-minute run, but we've got you covered. Here's the ultimate breakdown of the last episode of The Waterfront. In the seventh episode, the Buckleys deal with the repercussions of their attempt to take out Grady (Topher Grace). Grady had been a little too close to their family for comfort, and Harlan (Holt McCallany) has been trying to cut him loose only to be met with brute force, torture, and threats to his family's lives. So as part of the business deal Cane (Jake Weary) and Harlan (Holt McCallany) made with the Parkers—who run a big drug-smuggling operation, and with whom they used to be involved with—the Parkers's men would kill the drug supplier for the Buckleys. Unfortunately, that plan didn't work out. And as revenge for this attempt at his life, Grady's men abduct Bree (Melissa Benoist). Bree wakes up on Grady's yacht, figures out what's going on, but is surprised to see her teen son Diller aboard with her. Diller tells her that he saw the men take her and snuck onto the boat to try and save her. While she appreciates the gesture, Bree tells Diller to hide, protect himself, and make sure no one else knows he's there. This plan ultimately fails, and when Bree takes a stab at Grady, he shoots her in the leg—figuring he only needs to hold one Buckley as hostage. As Bree's leg bleeds out, she gets thrown overboard. But Diller manages to throw a raft over to his mom before she drifts away. As soon as Harlan learns about his daughter Bree's kidnapping, he gears up for battle. Grady wanted to take Harlan in exchange for Bree, but that would make it too easy to kill them both off. So Cane, and his half-brother Shawn (Rafael L. Silva), decide they're coming with. They hide in a secret compartment of their boat, and ambush Grady and his men just in time to stop them from killing Harlan. They retrieve Diller, but soon discover that Bree has been thrown overboard and is floating away somewhere out in the ocean. A gunfight and chase on the yacht ensues. It ultimately ends with Grady, cornered by Harlan and Cane at the bow of his own boat. He tries to talk his way out, speaking to Harlan about how Cane isn't worthy to be his son because he's a coward and isn't willing to do what it takes to get the job done. Grady goads Cane, saying that he doesn't even have it in him to shoot him then and there. And in a split-second, before Grady could even finish his whole rant—much to Harlan's surprise (as well as the audience's, I'm sure)—Cane shoots him in the head multiple times and his dead body drops in the water. Though shaken by these events, the Buckleys move quickly to rescue Bree. All alone, on a raft while bleeding to death, Bree has a flashback and is finally able to forgiver her nine-year-old self for not having been able to help her grandpa when he was tortured and killed in his own home. In real time, she then finds the strength to use a flare gun to send a signal for rescue. This is when her family finally finds her and rushes her back to shore to get the care she needs at a hospital. Diller is happy to find out that his mom's surgery goes well and tells her while she's in recovery that he doesn't want to move out of Havenport with his dad. He wants to stay in Havenport to be with her. Meanwhile, on land, another one of the Buckley women is trying to handle her own problems. Upon learning of her husband Cane's infidelity, Peyton (Danielle Campbell) marches off to Jenna's (Humberly González) house to confront her. However, things don't pan out the way that Peyton imagined as she's met with a Jenna who's just returned from the hospital with the news that her ill dad had just passed away. Instead of giving Jenna an earful, Peyton ends up helping her with everything—from funeral arrangements to calling Jenna's family for support. And though Jenna tries to apologize and talk about everything with Cane, Peyton stops her and says that's a conversation they can have another time, if needed. When Cane gets back from all the action out at sea, he goes to Jenna's house. He tells her that he's heard the news about her father's death, so he wanted to come over to check-in on her and provide some comfort. But instead of welcoming him into the house, Jenna tells him about Peyton's visit and how incredibly kind she was to her despite the fact that she's been sleeping with her husband. This is when Jenna says that Cane was probably just a distraction from the terrible things happening in her life—from her dad's illness, from her impending divorce—and that she's probably the same to him. She tells him never to return to her house again. Cane is greeted at home by Peyton, who has a glass of scotch ready for him. They have an honest conversation about where they want their relationship to go from here, and Cane says that he wants to do better by his family, his wife, and himself. Peyton then says that she'll make sure that everything between them is alright, insinuating that no one and nothing can get in her way when it comes to securing their future. Though they appear to be the town's power couple, it's become clear that Harlan and Belle (Maria Bello) have marital problems of their own. They've been lying to and cheating on each other, but they've stuck through it all to appear as a united front. The events that have transpired with Grady, and dealing with all these threats to their family, have made their bond stronger. But while they seem to kiss and make up, it's clear that Belle is still hiding something from her husband. One of the big revelations during this season is Shawn's identity as Harlan's son with their now-deceased friend Bebe West. He came to Havenport wanting to learn more about his father, the Buckley family, and see if he could finally find the place where he belongs. It turns out that he has, and that he's staying with his newfound fam for the foreseeable future—which makes total sense given the rollercoaster he's been through with them. We have to remember that the reason why the Buckleys got into this whole mess in the first place was because of financial trouble. They were $2 million in debt to the bank, and moving drugs was a way to earn money to pay that back as well as ensure the future of the family fishery and restaurants. Belle initially had a plan—behind Harlan's back—to work with a local businessman named Wes Larsen (Dave Annable) to develop some parcels of land they owned by the beachfront. But things went sideways after she ended up sleeping with him and things got complicated. So when Belle tried to get the deal back, Wes refused. However, while sorting out all the Grady stuff, Emmett Parker (Terry Serpico) offers her a deal to help them out—but only if she's in the driver's seat, and not her husband. At the end of the episode, Belle meets with Emmett in the dead of night, and it seems as though she's accepted his offer. And to kick things off, Emmett decides to bring Belle a gift: a bloody Wes, tied to a chair. Emmett then introduces Belle as Wes's new boss, to which the poor tortured man has no choice but to agree with. This ending teases up a second season in which Belle double-crosses her own husband in order to take charge, and possibly save their business from ruin. Although, naturally, working with a crime family such as the Parkers is sure to have its own potentially-deadly consequences.