The White Lotus' Leslie Bibb Breaks Down Tense Trump Conversation in Episode 3: 'It Feels Like We've Hit a Nerve'

Mar. 15, 2025

Leslie Bibb in ‘The White Lotus’ season 3, episode 3.Photo:Fabio Lovino/HBO

Fabio Lovino/HBO

Warning: This post contains spoilers forThe White Lotusseason 3, episode 3.

No topic is ever off limits inThe White Lotus, and in episode 3, season 3, the conversation between three girlfriends on vacation in Thailand turns political.

During dinner, Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), Kate (Leslie Bibb), and Laurie (Carrie Coon) discuss Christianity. When Jaclyn says it doesn’t speak to her, Kate reveals she gets “a lot out of going to church.”

Puzzled, Jaclyn asks if she’s uncomfortable going to church in Texas with “Bible thumpers” who “voted for Trump.” Kate simply replies, “They’re nice people.”

Michelle Monaghan in ‘The White Lotus’ season 3, episode 3.Fabio Lovino/HBO

Laurie presses, and asks if it gets awkward when politics comes up. Kate’s response: “Why would it?”

Kate reveals her husband is a Republican, she’s an independent, and when asked if she voted for Trump, Kate lets out a sigh and says, “Are we really going to talk about Trump tonight? It is a very pretty church. It’s not weird at all.”

What got weird was the tension at the dinner table as Jaclyn and Laurie tried to mask their discomfort. Later, at the end of the episode, Kate overhears them talking about her during a late-night chat in their villa.

The timeliness of the conversation hits a different nerve today, withPresident Donald Trumpback in the White House, but Bibb reveals this was written in 2022 and shot last year.

Carrie Coon in ‘The White Lotus’ season 3, episode 3.Fabio Lovino/HBO

“When we were filming it, it actually felt like it was going to be irrelevant,” Bibb toldVariety. “It’s randomly current. I think it’s so easy to be divisive, and it felt likeMike [White]— not that he wasn’t picking a side — was just showing that not everybody’s a villain. She wasn’t going to ruin this holiday over who she voted for.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

In a separate conversation withEntertainment Weekly, Bibb said she felt like White, the show creator, “had binoculars into the future because when we did it, it just didn’t feel [timely anymore].”

Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb, Michelle Monaghan in ‘The White Lotus’ season 3, episode 1.Fabio Lovino/HBO

“I was like, ‘We already did that. That was in the past.’ I don’t even think Trump was running when we did it — it was in January or February of last year or something, so yeah, that was pretty wild,” she said. “But he’s like a little soothsayer, that Mike White. It feels like we’ve hit a nerve. We’re in the zeitgeist, as they say. We’ve done something current, if you will.”

While preparing for the scene, Bibb toldVarietyshe “didn’t judge" her character. “I love how she can never have silence, she doesn’t want to ruin anything, she always wants to keep this group together.”

Viewers will have to see how the friendship regroups after the dinner scene bombshell.

Season 3 ofThe White Lotusairs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.

source: people.com