In one of the more unexpected celebrity feuds, actor Carrie Coon is sniping back at former “View” co-host Meghan McCain, who slammed the “White Lotus” star on social media Thursday for “showing her tits to everyone” on the third season currently airing on HBO. The drama surprisingly began with a Hollywood Reporter feature published Wednesday, in which Coon said she was glad that her “White Lotus” co-star Leslie Bibb plays a conservative woman named Kate — who reveals she voted for President Donald Trump.
“I do think people like Meghan McCain and her community are really gratified to see a conservative person on television,” Coon told the outlet at the time. “I have conservative people in my life who reached out to me to say that was an awesome conversation.” “I don’t think it vilifies Kate,” she added about Bibb’s character coming out as a Republican.
McCain seemed offended by the comments — despite Coon specifically noting that she’s glad to see a conservative perspective represented and hasn’t abandoned her right-wing friends in real life — and slammed the actor Thursday on X, formerly Twitter. “Yes Carrie, I am ‘gratified’ that the conservative character represented on White Lotus is the responsible, family oriented one not making a fool of herself,” wrote McCain. “Unlike the progressive liberal you’re representing who is sleeping with hotel staff and showing her tits to everyone.”
Coon’s character doesn’t sleep with any of the fictional staffers and has only been shown nude while skinny-dipping or having sex with a hotel worker’s friend. The actor reacted to the bizarre backlash to her interview comments with an insult of her own Thursday on X: “I didn’t realize my quote was so inflammatory. Is ‘gratified’ a new trigger word?”
Their feud seemingly began in March when McCain reacted to Trump’s speech to Congress on social media by thanking the president for his “beautiful” vow to combat child cancer. McCain’s father, the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), died from brain cancer in 2018 at 81 years old. “Who’s gonna tell her?” Coon posted later, referring to Trump killing an important source of funding to research glioblastoma — the same cancer that killed Meghan McCain’s father — prompting the pundit to share her “heartbroken” and since-deleted reaction.
Whether Coon and McCain will ever make up remains to be seen. The “White Lotus” finale airs Sunday on HBO.
In the season finale of The White Lotus, Rick and Chelsea were among the casualties. Chelsea uttered the words "amor fati" (love is fate), which serves as the episode title. Walton Goggins expressed gratitude for his costar and their love story on Instagram after the episode ended. “Rick + Chelsea. With the heaviest of hearts,” he wrote, sharing a collection of behind-the-scenes photos from the set. “To me, ours was a love story. It was only ever a love story, hindered by unresolved, childhood trauma... We all have them… but can we move past them. In the depths of our despair there is always beauty around us. If we can sit with our pain, just sit with it… not react… not be defined by it…It’s there… the love the world is constantly giving in any given moment is there. Always waiting for us to see it.”
Among the post's many commenters was costar Patrick Schwarzenegger (Saxon), who wrote simply, “I’m crying.” The emotional season finale stirred plenty of emotions from all associated with the show, including the official HBO account, echoing the mourning over the loss of Rick and Chelsea. “I’m not crying, you’re crying,” read the caption, which accompanied a reel of their reunion earlier in the episode.
The cast — including Carrie Coon, Michelle Monaghan, and Leslie Bibb — shared insider photos from the final days on set. “What a trip!” wrote Coon (Laurie), who earned raves for her scene-stealing turn in the finale, where she made peace with her friends at last. “I just feel like as you get older you have to justify your life, you know, and your choices,” Laurie told her friends. “I had this epiphany today. I don’t need religion or God to give my life meaning. Because time gives it meaning.”
“Today is gone. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one,” posted Coon on Instagram. “Thanks Mike, and @streamonmax, our fearless crew from Thailand and the world over, and the wild bunch, of course, especially The Ladies @michellemonaghan and @mslesliebibb. What a trip.”
Natasha Rothwell also expressed her gratitude to the show's writer and director, Mike White — as well as to the character she portrayed. “Thank you, Belinda,” she wrote. “Portraying you has been one of the greatest gifts of my life. You gave a voice to quiet strength, to unseen labor, and to the hope we hold in the face of heartbreak. To everyone who saw her (and me) — thank you for seeing us. And to Mike White, thank you for trusting me with the show’s heart. ❤️”
Viewers were left in awe of the powerful speech delivered by Carrie Coon's character, Laurie, in the season three finale of The White Lotus. The final episode of the popular HBO series' third season aired on Sunday, April 6. As some characters met their end, others found resolution, including the problematic trio of friends. Throughout the season, viewers questioned the true nature of the friendship between Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), Laurie, and Kate (Leslie Bibb).
The ups and downs of their relationship were on full display, culminating when Laurie discovered Jaclyn's affair with hotel worker and health mentor Valentin (Arnas Fedaravičius), whom she had been encouraging Laurie to pursue. This revelation led to a tense dinner where the women exchanged barbs and accusations. Laurie eventually left the uncomfortable meal to watch Muay Thai with Valentin and his friends.
In episode eight, the tension and awkwardness within the friendship persisted. It was during their final dinner at the hotel that viewers got a resolving glimpse into the state of their relationship. Kate and Jaclyn had nothing but good things to say about their holiday in Thailand, but Laurie was honest about feeling "so sad" the week of their vacation and having high expectations. This led to a heartfelt speech that seemed to highlight how much she values her friendship with Jaclyn and Kate, despite the issues they've had.
"I feel like when you get older, you have to justify your life and your choices," she expressed. "When I am with you guys, it's so transparent what my choices were and my mistakes." "I have no belief system, and I mean, I've had a lot of them, but I mean, work was my religion for forever, but I definitely lost my faith there, and then I tried love, and that was just a painful religion that made everything worse. And then even for me, just being a mother didn't save me either," Laurie went on. "But I had this revelation today: I don't need religion or God to give my life meaning because time gives it meaning. We started this life together. I mean, we are going through it apart, but we're still together, and I look at you guys, and it feels meaningful."
For all the latest news straight to your inbox, sign up for our FREE newsletters here. She then turned to Jaclyn to tell her she is glad she has a "beautiful face!" and told Kate that she is glad that she has a "beautiful life," expressing how she's "just happy to be at the table." Both Jaclyn and Kate were teary-eyed after Laurie's heartfelt words, with both expressing their love for her, which Laurie warmly echoed. Followers on X were touched by Laurie's stirring speech and lauded Carrie for her riveting performance. They were advocating that The Gilded Age star should be awarded an Emmy for her impassioned monologue. A fan exclaimed, "This monologue! ! ! Carrie Coon said 'give me that Emmy! ! ! !" A second fan was moved, commenting, "I don't need religion or God to give my life meaning... because time gives it meaning' is one of the greatest lines of dialogue ever written. Run Carrie Coon her Emmy now." Another viewer chimed in, praising, "Carrie Coon with the most devastating and revelatory monologue of the season.. many hoped for this and are happy to have seen it come to pass." And yet another added: "Carrie Coon coming in with the quintessential emotional finale monologue. Get her that Emmy nom."
Perhaps those complaining that this season of HBO’s The White Lotus was a little slow were at least partially satisfied by Sunday night’s action-packed finale, which ended with a gun battle and the second-highest body count we’ve yet seen on the series. Unlike last year’s ludicrous bang-bang ending, with Jennifer Coolidge shooting her way out of a gay murder boat (only to trip, fall, bang her head, and die anyway), this melee was a graver, more earnestly tragic affair. Rick (Walton Goggins) thought he was avenging his father’s murder, only to get his girlfriend Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) killed in the crossfire. Rick went down too, he and his lover doomed by his inability to move on from the pain of the past.
That was one major thematic inquiry of the season: a look at the mad, sad, messy scramble for purpose in a world that increasingly seems to be both cruel and pointless. Rick thought he could heal himself through violent reprisal, but instead became the thing he most hated. Chelsea at least died somewhat enlightened and in love, but her death was ultimately yet another random and brutal twist of fate. For much of the finale episode, it seemed that mortal ruin was going to bear down on another huddle of hotel guests: the Ratliffs of North Carolina. Creator Mike White had been hinting all season that patriarch Timothy (Jason Isaacs) might be a family annihilator in the making. And indeed, in the final episode, Timothy planned to poison all but one member of his immediate family. He chose to spare young Lochlan (Sam Nivola), whom he maybe deemed the purest of the group, the one who could most contentedly live the life of penury that Timothy had suddenly cast them into.
But in an ironic and very nearly tragic accident, Lochlan was the only one who drank a dosed smoothie. It seemed that White was going to sacrifice the golden child so that Timothy might live in some kind of grieving penitence. But White is not quite that mean, and so Lochlan eventually awoke—leaving the family to drift off together into a terribly uncertain future. Some might see it as a bit of a cop-out that Lochlan lived, and the Ratliffs sailed away mostly unscathed. But I think that is a hallmark White Lotus conclusion: that people like Timothy and Victoria (Parker Posey) rarely suffer the worst fate. They endure—not because they are good, but because they are just that ruthlessly lucky.
Lochlan may not be long for the family, though. When he roused from his smoothie coma, he told his father he had seen God, which I’d imagine would change his worldview some. White gave us no hints about what Lochlan’s path forward might be; unlike the apostate teenage boy of the first season, this kid stayed with his people. In season three, White also changed his approach to the hired help. Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) compromised his beliefs but got ahead because of it, snagging a fancy new gig and his lady fair, Mook (Lalisa Manobal), after he broke from Buddhist teaching to kill a fleeing Rick. As he and Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) proved, class is transcended by an abnegation of principle.
The woman who was once betrayed by Coolidge’s Tanya negotiated a whopping $5 million payout to keep silent about Greg/Gary’s whereabouts. She and her son Zion (Nicholas Duvernay) may get to enjoy a new standard of living, but I’d imagine her leveraging of a sinister system might eventually start to eat away at her. Or not. Maybe Belinda’s storyline was an entirely positive one about a trod-upon person finally getting their bag, even if it meant letting a nefarious guy go free. But it’s certainly not an accident that Belinda ended up doing to Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul) what Tanya did to Belinda in season one: breaking plans to go into business together, figuring her money would be better spent elsewhere. On this show, no one gets away with a totally clean soul.
Though I suppose you could make the argument that Laurie (Carrie Coon) does. In the finale, she rather abruptly but movingly came to the realization that she doesn’t need religion or romance or anything else so grand and defining to give her life shape and meaning. Instead, Laurie says—in a monologue masterfully delivered by Coon—that the purpose of her life is just to have a life, to spend time with her friends and enjoy their shared bond and be at peace with their inequities. White’s writing here was wise and poignant and unexpectedly hopeful. So much cynicism stalked Laurie’s arc this season, and yet White surprisingly chose to bestow the most significant catharsis upon her. Maybe when you have an actor of Coon’s caliber, it’s hard to resist giving her the glory. Stunning and summative of the season’s big questions as Laurie’s monologue moment was, I’m not entirely sure that White connected all of his themes as neatly as he has in previous seasons. Death, spirituality, and a hunger of the soul did inform each storyline to some degree, but I think I wanted a more unified argument, something that really wove all the plot threads together. This was a sadder, more contemplative season, and I wish White had leaned into that even further, to give us something sweeping and declarative about the state of humanity today. But maybe that’s just not White’s style.
He did, at least, deliver a tense and propulsive ending, one that made up for the more plodding, listless episodes earlier in the season. The White Lotus is still easily one of the best shows on television, a sharply acted and lyrically written series that, with grim humor and melancholy, reflects a particularly modern anxiety and malaise. And, hey, season three offered at least a glimmer of optimism about people transcending their station. Sure, they had to kill and blackmail to do it. But that might just be what this sorry and punishing world demands.
