The Emotional Reason Walton Goggins Ghosts The Co-Stars He Loves
It's not because of feuds. Some people just aren't good at goodbyes.
Fred Duval | Shutterstock If you're a fan of HBO's "The White Lotus," you've surely heard all the gossip about how the actors got along — or didn't — behind the scenes in Thailand. And much of that gossip has centered on two actors in particular, Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood, who played lovers Rick and Chelsea.
Rumors of a feud between the two were everywhere during the time of the show's season three finale. But in a new interview with Variety, both stars say those rumors are ridiculous. And for Goggins, there's a far more personal reason behind what sparked them in the first place.
Walton Goggins shared why he tends to ghost his co-stars when projects end.
More than anything, the rumors about Goggins and Wood not getting along were fueled by the thing that has become a go-to indicator of a celebrity falling out: the infamous Instagram unfollow. Eagle-eyed fans quickly clocked that Goggins unfollowed Wood after the show ended, which many took as an indicator that their loving relationship was onscreen-only.
The speculation became even more heated after the controversy surrounding an SNL sketch that contained a joke about Wood's prominent teeth. Goggins left a complimentary comment on SNL's Instagram post of the sketch that he then deleted after Wood spoke out publicly about being hurt and offended by the teeth joke.
And then came a recent interview with the U.K.'s The Times in which Goggins pointedly, and then angrily, refused to discuss his relationship with Wood or the supposed online flaps that fueled their alleged feud. Now, both stars are confirming: There is no feud. And Goggins' reasons for unfollowing Wood go much deeper than supposed conflict.
Goggins unfollows most of his co-stars after projects wrap because he hates goodbyes.
Speaking to Variety, both Goggins and Wood said they found the entire uproar about their feud ridiculous. For Goggins' part, he said he found the whole thing infantile. "If I may add, just to put this to bed? The following or unfollowing," he said. "I’m a grown [redacted] man."
As for Wood, she said it was her initial instinct to set people straight, but knew that on social media, anything she said would immediately be misconstrued. "Eventually, I just started to sit back and watch these people making something out of absolutely nothing," she told Variety.
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And that "something out of nothing" seems to be the crux of the matter. Goggins explained to Variety that he hates goodbyes and has made it his policy to unfollow his co-stars for closure at the end of a project. "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,’” he told Variety. “I didn’t talk to him for almost two years. I’ve done that with every single thing that I’ve done.”
Actors are just people, after all, and most of us do not keep in touch with our co-workers once we leave a job, either. Acting is also deeply emotional work, and the scenes you share with a co-star can be even more so. It's natural to want to leave that behind, close the door, and just have closure. And for Goggins, that instinct was even stronger after "The White Lotus."
Goggins shared that the Thailand setting of 'The White Lotus' reminded him of his wife's tragic death.
Many of the stars of "The White Lotus" have spoken about how transcendent an experience shooting the show was, and how soaking up the local culture near the show's Thailand settings cemented their bonds and camaraderie with each other. Goggins, however, was said to have been more stand-offish between takes, and the ties he has to Thailand give insight into why.
Prior to marrying filmmaker Nadia Connors in 2011, Goggins was married to Canadian dog trainer Leanne Goggins, a marriage that ended tragically with Leanne's suicide in 2004. The event left him reeling, and in the aftermath, he took to traveling, with both Thailand and Bangkok specifically being among the places he spent time while grieving.
His part on "The White Lotus" brought him right back to some of the very same locations, and he told Variety it was a difficult thing to face. "My catharsis in this experience was different than other people’s, because of my history in this place," he said. That was only amplified, he said, by how close he'd grown to Wood during filming.
Coming to tears, he told Variety, "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, [unfollowing Wood] is what I’ve gotta do. And she was extremely supportive about that.”
In the end, it made his usual need for closure even more intense, and he told Variety that he hasn't spoken to anyone since filming wrapped, other than Wood—his reunion with whom for the interview ended with the two of them hugging tearfully while sharing their mutual admiration for each other. All of which underlines that at the end of the day, celebrities are just human beings with the same psychology and emotions as anyone else. It's the rest of us who read extra meaning into them.
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
