A visit to actress Natasha Rothwell’s home in central Los Angeles is not unlike a White Lotus experience—in terms of leisure that is, not murder. As I walk up the paved path to her front steps, she opens the door before I can get to the doorbell, enveloping me in a hug. She offers me house slippers so my feet don’t get cold. There’s a bottle of water waiting for me on the coffee table in front of the plush beige couch where we’ll sit for our interview. A fire flickers. Soft jazz plays. All that’s missing is the ceremonial lei.
“Is he annoying you?" Rothwell asks when her dog, Lloyd, a goldendoodle wearing a comically large bowtie nuzzles my knee, then places a turkey leg chew toy on my lap. "I can put him in the other room." It’s one of those seemingly dateless days in the stretch between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Rothwell, who returns this month to HBO’s crazy-shit-goes-down-at-luxury-hotels anthology series The White Lotus for season three, spent the entire holiday season here at home, or as she calls it “my little peace palace” having some me-time. After a crazed schedule all last year, she just wanted to nest. “It’s such a personal accomplishment to have a home,” she says. “And it’s something I never thought I would be able to have, so to enjoy it is really nice.”
