‘White Lotus’ season 3 star Aimee Lou Wood says she felt ‘ugly’ after finding out Mike White had to fight HBO to cast her

Aimee Lou Wood’s Chelsea has become a beloved character in the latest season of “The White Lotus,” but the actor said HBO wasn’t keen on casting her in the series.

In an interview with GQ, Wood said a producer approached her during the first week of filming to tell her how much creator Mike White fought to cast her in the show.

“It was honestly from the nicest place, but my little head goes: ‘HBO didn’t want me. And I know why HBO didn’t want me, it’s because I’m ugly. Mike had to say, ‘Please let me have the ugly girl!'” Wood said. “That was the thing that was in my head.”

Wood didn’t clarify further about the nature of her casting. HBO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After that, Wood said she worried she was acting weird on set until White told her she needed to embrace her weirdness for the character.

Ultimately, casting Wood seemed to be the right decision. Her portrayal of the romantic optimist Chelsea, who is vacationing in Thailand with her much older boyfriend Rick (Walton Goggins), made her a fan favorite on the show up until her character’s tragic end.

While Chelsea — and therefore Wood — now has many fans online, Wood told GQ that there’s one thing that bothered her about the attention she’s gotten from “The White Lotus.”

“The whole conversation is just about my teeth, and it makes me a bit sad because I’m not getting to talk about my work,” Wood said.

“It makes me really happy that it’s symbolizing rebellion and freedom, but there’s a limit,” Wood continued. “They think it’s nice because they’re not criticizing.”

“And, I have to go there… I don’t know if it was a man would we be talking about it this much? It’s still going on about a woman’s appearance,” Wood added.

“The White Lotus” season three is streaming in full on Max.