The White Lotus actor Walton Goggins recently shared how filming the HBO hit’s third season in Thailand stirred memories of his personal tragedy.
The Emmy-nominated performer, whose character Rick Hatchett became an unexpected fan favorite, revealed that his time on location had an unexpected emotional impact as he found himself revisiting places he had first encountered while grieving his first wife’s death two decades earlier.
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During a February interview with GQ, Goggins spoke candidly about the extraordinary coincidence of filming in the exact locations where he had once sought solace after his first wife, Leanne Kaun’s suicide in the early 2000s. “I had someone in my life that committed suicide,” Goggins explained. “And she was my wife. It’s a very complicated story.”
After marrying Kaun in 2001, their relationship ended in tragedy when she died by suicide three years later. The devastation sent Goggins on a global journey seeking healing. “I thought it was really unrecoverable for me. Life on the other side of that. And I spent the next three years looking for an excuse—not to end it, but certainly putting myself in situations that were questionable… just life experiences and traveling,” he shared with GQ.
His travels took him across Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Cambodia, India, and, significantly, Thailand—the same country where The White Lotus production would bring him back decades later. As filming progressed, Goggins experienced an uncanny series of flashbacks. “The first island we were staying on, I realized, ‘I’ve been on this road before,’” he recalled. “And then the next island we went to, I realized, ‘I’ve definitely been on this beach before. I know this boardwalk.’ And all of the things kept coming back.”
The emotional symmetry reached its peak during his final night of shooting in Bangkok when production set up at the exact hotel where Goggins had stayed during his period of grief. “That’s where I was the very first day I came here, 20 years ago, and in so much f—ing pain, man,” Goggins told GQ, noting the realization of how much his life had transformed in the intervening years.
The parallels between Goggins’ personal history and his character’s journey are striking. In The White Lotus, Rick travels to Thailand while processing complicated emotions about his father, whom he believes was murdered. The storyline culminates in a tragic confrontation in the series finale that aired on April 6.
Now remarried to filmmaker Nadia Conners since 2011 and father to a 13-year-old son named Augustus, Goggins reflected on what he would tell his younger, grieving self if given the chance: “I wish I could whisper in his ear, ‘You’re going to be okay. Life continues, and it continues for everybody if you can just hold on and lean into it and keep walking the walk that you’re walking, and keep looking for the answers.’”
During an April 8 appearance on the Not Skinny but Not Fat podcast, Goggins further explained how his personal experiences helped him connect with his character’s emotional struggles. “I think every actor would say that… I understand where he is, you know, mentally and spiritually,” he noted. “Because I, too, have been there, and I think most of us have. “
