The White Lotus star describes 'intimate' kiss with Tom Cruise on her honeymoon

Evening Standard

Transcript

00:00Oh, my gosh. That was so fun.

00:01That was fun. You're great to play a game with.

00:03That was a blast.

00:04That was a blast.

00:04I don't know how my kids are going to feel about that.

00:08Why not? You're great.

00:10There's so much I want to talk to you about.

00:11White Lotus, you just crushed it, buddy.

00:14You really hit a home run.

00:15Thank you so much.

00:16Every scene that you were in, every subtle thing you did,

00:19I looked at everything. I'm like, she's brilliant.

00:21Thank you. It was fantastic.

00:22Thank you. It was such a fun show to be on.

00:25It was just a really, really fun role,

00:27and we had a terrific storyline, so.

00:29I had a blast.

00:30We were talking backstage.

00:31You're about to celebrate your 20th wedding anniversary.

00:33I am.

00:34Congratulations.

00:35Thank you so much.

00:38Yeah, we actually got married 20 years ago,

00:43and right before I started Mission Impossible 3.

00:46Oh, really?

00:47To be honest, yeah.

00:48That's a good memory.

00:49It's funny. It's a great, great memory.

00:51My husband's Australian, so we got married in Australia, actually,

00:55and we didn't have time for a honeymoon,

00:57because we had to start filming, I think, three days later,

01:01so we flew back to L.A.,

01:02and my husband and I, I just remember so vividly,

01:06I get my call sheet for my very first day on Mission.

01:09Mission Impossible.

01:10And, of course, as luck would have it,

01:12it's an intimate scene with Tom Cruise.

01:15And I'm like, oh, my gosh.

01:18I said, Pete, this is my husband, Pete.

01:20I was like, oh, my God, I cannot believe it.

01:22He's like, baby, don't worry about it.

01:23Just follow his lead.

01:24He's such a professional.

01:25And I was so nervous about it.

01:27I get up at 4 a.m.

01:28I dart out of the hotel.

01:30I forget my key, of course.

01:31And I go to work, and I proceed to have the best day with Tom

01:35and J.J. Abrams, our director, of course.

01:37Love J.J. Abrams.

01:38The best.

01:39And I come home later that evening.

01:41I have to knock on the door, of course,

01:43and I walk in back into the hotel room,

01:46and my husband said, baby, how did it go?

01:47And I was like, it was amazing.

01:49It was so good.

01:49And he's like, brush your teeth and tell me all about it.

01:52And so I said, oh, honey, it was so sweet.

01:56It was a lovely day.

01:57It was so perfect.

01:58And he looked at me, and he grabbed my arms,

02:00and he goes, how cool is it that you were making out

02:03with Tom Cruise on our honeymoon?

02:05On our honeymoon.

02:06On our honeymoon.

02:08And I was like, you know what?

02:10Why not?

02:11I married the right dude.

02:12That's pretty cool.

02:13I married the right dude.

02:13I married the right guy, yeah.

02:15Let's talk about the White Lotus again,

02:17and congratulations again.

02:18Amazing season.

02:20Everyone's talking about the ladies.

02:22The ladies.

02:24Carrie Coon is you, Leslie Bibb.

02:26What are you doing in the scene?

02:27Are you seeing all the memes that's going to be made in the future?

02:30Yeah.

02:30I mean, it was so funny because we were referred to as the ladies.

02:34That's how Mike White, our creator, referred to us as.

02:37And then all of a sudden, we're like,

02:39we're an episode or two episodes,

02:40and now we're like the toxic trio.

02:42And all these things.

02:44And, you know, I've been doing this for a long time.

02:46I've never been a part of a show or anything that's been so immersive

02:49in the way that people consumed it.

02:51And it was just so funny.

02:53People really, everyone had it.

02:55And everybody kept weighing in, like, every episode week to week.

02:58And then all of a sudden, I was like, gosh, the episodes are coming up

03:01where, like, Jacqueline does some kind of morally ambiguous things.

03:04And, boy, everybody liked to weigh in with me.

03:07Everybody was yes.

03:08Everyone had an opinion?

03:09Everyone had an opinion.

03:10They were like, you're a bitch.

03:12I didn't believe you did that.

03:14And I was like, we're talking about Jacqueline.

03:15You're my character, right?

03:16Yeah, my character.

03:17Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

03:17Me, Imperia, I'm a really nice person.

03:19It's like, I'm just over here doing what the words tell me to do.

03:22Oh, you were so great.

03:23And I heard that you and Parker Posey were roommates.

03:25Yes.

03:25Oh, my gosh.

03:26I got to live with the great Parker Posey.

03:28How fun.

03:29She is so fun.

03:30She is, I kind of refer to her as, like, a little bit of a witch.

03:35She's the gal that, like, when she moves into a place.

03:37She is magical.

03:39Yeah.

03:39She is.

03:39She's, like, got all these, like, lotions and potions and tinctures and everything.

03:43I'm like, girl, you just got here a week ago.

03:46Like, I'm in an apothecary here in Thailand.

03:48An apothecary.

03:49And I remember one, I had one week where I was shooting these nights.

03:52I was working three nights in a row.

03:54And before I went to work, she was like, oh, you're going to need Asha LaGuarda.

03:59And I was like, what?

04:01And she's like, Asha LaGuarda.

04:03Michelle, it's for your brain.

04:04You're really going to need it.

04:06That's a great part.

04:07And I said, I have no idea what you're trying.

04:10But sure enough, I get home at 6 a.m.

04:12And I walk into my room, and I've got all of these Asha LaGuarda.

04:16I can't even say it so clearly.

04:17Asha LaGuarda?

04:18It's not great brain food, obviously.

04:21But it's great for you.

04:22But there she is.

04:22There she is.

04:23And so I felt like I was in good hands.

04:25If I had any ailments, I could go to her.

04:27I think the whole cast was probably the most coolest cast.

04:29They are the coolest cast.

04:30Everyone is like, I mean, you were doing it.

04:33But I'm telling you, what we all saw was everybody was cool.

04:36We loved every single one of you.

04:38Yes, me too.

04:38But man, oh man, you crushed it.

04:41And when you're with that cast and you're in Thailand, do you get to explore?

04:44Do you get to have fun?

04:45Do you get to see stuff?

04:46Yeah, yeah.

04:46I mean, it's such a big cast.

04:48It's ensemble.

04:49We inevitably have downtime.

04:50And one of the fun things that I took up was diving.

04:55My children came to visit me and they wanted to get their diving certificates.

04:59And at first I was like, oh God.

05:01And then I was like, okay, let's do it.

05:03And it turns out that Mike is a diver.

05:05Walton Goggins is a diver.

05:07And so we had a funny diving excursion.

05:12It was kind of scary.

05:13But funny now, looking back, we're diving and we're far, we're deep.

05:19And all of a sudden, my goggles start to malfunction in a pretty major way.

05:24And I'm trying to clear the goggles underneath the water.

05:27I can't see anything in front of me.

05:30And I'm thinking, God, if I go to the surface, I'm going to lose everybody.

05:33So we're down there for 45 minutes.

05:36What?

05:36And all of a sudden, I can make out something like probably about two feet in front of me.

05:41And I'm like, oh my God, these are Walton Goggins flippers.

05:43He's got these bright yellow flippers, of course.

05:46And I'm like, all right, I'm just going to follow Walton Goggins for the next 45 minutes.

05:50And I'm hot on his tail.

05:53And I'm like, because I can't see anything else.

05:54I can't see anything else.

05:55And I'm kind of freaked out.

05:57And all of a sudden, I see him start to go up.

06:00And he's like, hey, man, how was the dive?

06:02And I was like, I didn't see anything.

06:04He's like, did you see the sharks?

06:05I was like, no, man, I can only see your flippers.

06:07Sharks.

06:07And then my husband comes up, and he was like, baby, he's like, where were you?

06:15Like, I kept telling you to come over to me, and you were totally ignoring me.

06:20You weren't even looking at me, and you were just like flying after Walton.

06:22Walton Goggins saved my life!

06:24I was like, oh, God.

06:26We had some, like, underwater marital drama.

06:28He's like, why is she following Walton for 45 minutes and not even looking in the direction

06:33of me?

06:34I have a good picture.

06:34Here's you and Walton celebrating after that.

06:36That's right.

06:36We had champagne after that on the show.

06:38He's the best.

06:42He is the best.

06:43Yeah, you are the best.

06:45I want to show a clip.

06:46Here's Michelle Monaghan in The White Lotus.

06:48Take a look at this.

06:49You're not upset because of Valentin.

06:52Yeah, I'm upset because of Jacqueline.

06:55But are you?

06:57You could have hooked up with Valentin if you wanted, but you chose not to.

07:00Right?

07:00You chose to work at that company your whole career, and you chose to marry Brian.

07:08If you always choose the short stick, is it bad luck?

07:11Are you life's victim?

07:14Or are you doing it to yourself?

07:19That's how you do it!

07:20Michelle Monaghan, everybody!

07:24Season 3 of The White Lotus is streaming now on Max.

07:28We'll be right back with a performance from Marina.

07:31Stick around.

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