Another week of pondering what went down on The White Lotus.
Leslie Bibb stopped by CNN on Tuesday to discuss the most recent episode of Mike White’s HBO show that included a surprise cameo from her real-life partner of nearly 20 years, Sam Rockwell.
“He was a last minute. That came in last minute, like maybe two weeks before they were going to film it. So, it was very last minute,” she revealed. “I said to them when they offered it to him, I was like, ‘If he doesn’t do it, don’t get mad at me. And Mike’s like, ‘I’m not going to get mad at you.’”
Bibb added that she told the show’s creator-director-writer: “Please do not take it out on me. That guy has his own choice!”
Keeping Rockwell’s appearance a secret was “so stressful” to not spill “spoilers.” She continued, “I’ve been lying about Sam alone.”
In Rockwell’s scene, his character, Frank, tells Walton Goggins’ Rick that after he got to Thailand and had sex with a lot of “Asian girls,” it led him to think: “Maybe what I really want is to be one of these Asian girls.”
Bibb told CBS Mornings, also on Tuesday, that when she first read the script for Rockwell’s scene, she recalled thinking: “This is the best thing I’ve ever seen on television.
Bibb’s character, Kate, is on vacation with her two friends, Laurie (Carrie Coon) and Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), who have a gossipy, tension-filled dynamic.
“I felt like it was what Mike was really trying to talk about for the show,” Bibb told CBS Mornings about the monologue. She also explained that if Kate’s friends did “what Frank did and been like, ‘Hey this is what’s happening in my life, I’m having problems in my marriage, I’m drinking too much, I’m doing this, whatever,’ they wouldn’t be gossiping about each other because they would immediately put the shield down, they would be vulnerable. And he comes in and he’s like, here’s my truth and he’s unapologetic.”
Watch the last three episodes of season three’s The White Lotus on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on Max.