The White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood admits she found her character ‘claustrophobic’ as she opens up on her ‘many mental illnesses’ which made filming hard

Relocating to a luxurious hotel in Thailand for seven months sounds like the dream job.

But for Aimee Lou Wood, 30, who stars as Chelsea in the third series of HBO‘s juggernaut franchise, White Lotus, filmed in Koh Samui, it was a less than enjoyable experience.

The Sex Education star said she found her character ‘claustrophobic’ and opened up about her ‘many f***ing mental illnesses’ which made filming hard, admitting she was homesick.

Aimee plays the young girlfriend of Rick, played by The Fallout actor Walton Goggins, 53, who takes her to Thailand for a couple’s retreat but has other motivations behind the trip.

Filmed at the Four Seasons in Koh Samui, the cast stayed at the hotel for different periods of time with Aimee revealing she stayed an extra month.

Speaking to Elle UK, she said: ‘I am someone who has so many f***ing mental illnesses, and there’s nothing wrong with being mentally ill.’

The White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood has admitted she finds her character ‘claustrophobic’ as she opened up on her ‘many mental illnesses’ which made filming hard 

Aimee, who stars as Chelsea in the third series of HBO’s juggernaut franchise, White Lotus, filmed in Koh Samui, found it to be a less than enjoyable experience

She added: ‘But that extra month, it really makes a difference. I was like, ‘Oh, another month, ok’ It did feel like The Truman Show, social experiment vibes, a lot of the time.’

Returning to her friends in London, Aimee said: ‘I was crying at the beautiful London litter, it was home.’

As for the star-studded cast, including Harry Potter’s Jason Isaac and the American actress, Michelle Monaghan, Aimee said: ‘If we didn’t have each other we would all have gone mad.  

‘Because we were so far away from home and everyone was homesick, and it’s so claustrophobic because you film where you live.

‘There’s no separation, you walk out and you’re on set. Filming in a hotel, living in a hotel, like you become a White Lotus guest, you actually do.

‘It became so meta. There were times when we’d be out for dinner and someone would start accidentally, verbatim, saying their lines from the show. It all became so merged and so confused.’

Aimee, who found fame on the Netflix hit Sex Education playing the hapless schoolgirl Aimee Gibbs, said: ”It’s all been so much bigger and more abundant and overwhelming than I ever thought it would be. 

Underneath all of these characters and these stories and these experiences, who the hell am I? I don’t think I really know. That’s what this year is going to be. Getting real is 2025.

‘For the longest time, everyone thought that I was Aimee Gibbs.

Speaking about the upcoming season of The White Lotus, Aimee added: ‘This season feels different in a great way. Mike [White, the show’s creator] just nails people’

The Sex Education star said she found her character ‘claustrophobic’ and opened up about her ‘many f***ing mental illnesses’ which made filming hard, admitting she was homesick

Aimee plays the young girlfriend of Rick, played by The Fallout actor Walton Goggins, 53, who takes her to Thailand for a couple’s retreat but has other motivations behind the trip

Filmed at the Four Seasons in Koh Samui, the cast stayed at the hotel for different periods of time with Aimee revealing she stayed an extra month

She added: ‘But that extra month, it really makes a difference. I was like, ‘Oh, another month, ok’ It did feel like The Truman Show, social experiment vibes, a lot of the time’

Returning to her friends in London, Aimee said: ‘I was crying at the beautiful London litter, it was home’

‘But Aimee was, in many ways, the most far from me. Chelsea might be the one I feel most claustrophobic with.’

Speaking about the upcoming season of The White Lotus, Aimee added: ‘This season feels different in a great way. Mike [White, the show’s creator] just nails people. 

‘He nails our awful habits and our egos with this humour and specificity that is just so alarming. Chelsea isn’t staff, but she’s also not a guest. She feels a bit like the audience: we’re visiting The White Lotus, but it’s not really where we belong.

‘There’s a lot of humanity in it. I hope that it’s going to thrill and excite people as much as the previous ones, but there is an added depth.’ 

For the digital Elle UK cover, Aimee looked effortlessly stylish as she donned a knitted houndstooth sweater and denim skirt featuring an overzied chain detail.

She later went braless as she slipped into an oversized leather jacket and matching midi skirt. 

Aimee wore her brunette locks in a natural choppy style and opted for a minimal palette of makeup to elevate her natural beauty. 

It comes after Aimee revealed that the producers of White Lotus 3 didn’t like her American accent and asked her to stick with her native Manchester twang instead.

The Sex Education actress also revealed that she did several auditions in her usual voice and in an American accent but in the end, the producers opted for her Manchester tone

The Sex Education actress revealed that she did several auditions in her usual voice and in an American accent but in the end, the producers opted for her Manchester tone.

The star had her breakout role in the hit Netflix coming of age drama and has since gone on to star in films including The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, Seize Them! and Living.

She explained: ‘My character was meant to be American and then I did a self-tape, one in an American accent and one in my own. They were like, “Yeah, we want your own voice,” so my character is going to be from Manchester!’

In an interview with Radio Times, the star also revealed that while she was at drama school she had been advised to tone down her accent but has since found that people love it.

She told the magazine: ‘They [RADA] said Received Pronunciation was going to be the main accent we needed, so I should know when to dial my accent down, but that’s not been the case at all – if anything, people ask me to amp it up!’

The first trailer for the upcoming third season of White Lotus dropped just last month, teasing sex, guns, and a dead body.

The latest season is set in Thailand and stars Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Leslie Bibb, Jason Isaacs and a bevy of others who’ve signed on for the popular show from creator Mike White.

The first season premiered in July 2021, was set in Hawaii and received 20 Emmy nominations across 13 categories and 10 wins, the most wins of any program that year.

The second season, which premiered in December 2022, was set in Sicily and garnered 23 Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series, and five wins.

Season three looks to build on the critical and audience success of the first two seasons when it drops on February 16 on HBO.

‘Our hotel is the best in the world,’ an employee says in the trailer, promising that ‘at the end of the week, you will be an entirely different person.’