In my post about Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood yesterday, I mentioned – or proxy-bragged – that Sarah’s been all about Walton Goggins forever on this site. I’m talking over a decade, almost 15 years, and I mention this because I wonder if she could have predicted, when she was first writing about him, that this amazing actor who was not a household name but who was building a reputation as an actor’s actor, known by those who are meant to know, would in 2025 become… a Celebrity.
There is, as you know, a difference, of course. And up until recently, even after Justified and The Hateful Eight and Tomb Raider, some of the bigger projects he’s been in, and also The Righteous Gemstones and Fallout, Walton was still primarily considered an actor, period. An outstanding actor, never out of work, but an actor, not a celebrity. The White Lotus has made him a celebrity.
People are out here on social media talking about whether or not he’s made receding hairlines sexy, thirsting over his photoshoots, like this one for Man About Town…
…we’re not just talking about his work, we are gossiping about him now, as evidenced by all this speculation over him and Aimee Lou Wood.
And he’s getting papped – at Chateau Marmont, of all places, which is where he was last night, pulling up in a Porsche, top down.
It kinda seems like he’s enjoying it too?
Walton’s been pretty active on Instagram, I don’t check his feed regularly but I’ve been checking this whole week and there’s always something happening both on the feed and in stories so he and his team are definitely paying attention and keeping people fed. And he’s getting fed – there’s been a Go Daddy partnership and, given how fit he is, and how f-cking cool he looks in his clothes, and seems to enjoy modelling them, I would not be surprised if we hear about a fashion house ambassadorship. Could and would totally rather Walton over Jared Leto in whatever glam-rock mess Alessandra Michele is cooking up for Valentino. Walton Goggins… at the Met Gala? LOL. But not really. If I’m Anna Wintour, I’d want him there.
Walton’s been around a long time, and before The White Lotus had already achieved a measure of success that most actors would be thrilled about. But there’s another level of fame that has either eluded him or that he has eluded. Not anymore. It’s fun to see him not running from it, maybe even staying present in it.
