Dear Lord: Let me find someone who looks at me the way Leslie Bibb looks at Sam Rockwell. Since I discovered these two actors in season 3 of The White Lotus are a real-life couple, have been together since 2007 and are each other’s biggest cheerleaders, it’s allowed me to tolerate Bibb’s brittle character on the show and love Rockwell’s overall vibe even more than I did already.
This 'White Lotus' Hidden Love Affair Is Couple Goals
No scenes together, but a couple IRL since 2007
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Published Mar 21, 2025
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
This couple adds an extra meta-enjoyment to my appointment TV. Sure, Bibb’s character, Kate, is a conservative Texan wife on the show, and she has nothing to do with Rockwell’s character. He plays Frank, who rolls into the series as a nonconformist LBH (Loser Back Home) and old friend of the increasingly addled Rick, acted by Walton Goggins. Kate’s in every episode, and Frank’s arc promises to be only a handful of scenes. And according to interviews, the two don’t share screen time. So why does it matter that they got to bunk together when they were done with their shooting days on set?
It matters to me because this couple seems to be so…in love. After 18 years! She’s bubbling like a fool about him without looking foolish at all, for example when she recently appeared on The Tonight Show and, after talking at length about her own work on The White Lotus, told Jimmy Fallon “Sammy says 'Hi!'"
“Oh, tell Sam I said Hi!” Fallon replies. “I love him so much”
"We’re like the mayor of his fan club, aren’t we?” Bibb replies.
“We do love Sam Rockwell,” Fallon replies. “He’s a winner.”
“He is a winner,” Bibb says, cracking her trademark mega-smile. “He’s a chicken dinner.”
Reader, somehow this woman’s quips were not at all cringey but instead sweet. Because she’s either stealth, the world’s best actor or, heaven help me Hollywood, she’s sincere.
Judging from their socials, it might be the latter. Like what she says on an awards season post of the two of them last year: Rizz, you got it Sam Rockwell.
As for Rockwell, he’s comparatively mum on the topic, since he’s not on social media. However, when he won a SAG award in January 2018, he thanked his “beloved” partner Bibb “who puts up with me.”
“She keeps me laughing and we take care of each other,” he told Us magazine. “She’s really talented and funny herself. She reminds me of a young Mary Tyler Moore.”
I can’t wait to spend more time with this talented couple on The White Lotus—and fingers crossed, they’ll be in a project onscreen in the same scene together soon.
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