Aubrey Plaza’s Co-Star Admitted To Stalking Her

By Jonathan Klotz | Published 2 years ago

Haley Lu Richardson admitted to Jimmy Kimmel during her recent appearance that she stalked Aubrey Plaza, her The White Lotus co-star. Prior to getting a part opposite Plaza, Richardson admitted to trying to ingratiate herself with the Parks and Recreation star’s family, showing up to events uninvited in an attempt to manufacture an “accidental” run-in, and other classic stalker behavior. The whole story is told with tongue-in-cheek, though the end reaction from Richardson’s target is entirely in character.

The actress is a self-professed, “crazy fan” of Aubrey Plaza, admitting that she only “sort of knew” the star before joining the cast of HBO’s The White Lotus. Of course, Richardson did show up uninvited to a birthday party thanks to befriending her co-star’s cousins, then received a vaguely creepy text after news of her casting went public, so it could be argued that the crazy goes both ways. Regardless of whether or not the stalking helped her get the part, the Split star has been a great addition as the assistant to Jennifer Coolidge’s character, Tanya.

Aubrey Plaza joined the cast of The White Lotus during season 2, playing the part of Harper, lawyer married to Will Sharpe’s Ethan. As the couple stays in Sicily with Ethan’s friend, Cameron, played by Theo James, what starts as a pleasant vacation degenerates into marital issues and a complicated web of lies. None of the three actors were present for season 1 of the show, which has been one of the recent surprise hits for HBO in recent years.

Originally set in a Hawaiian resort for the first season, the Aubrey Plaza-less The White Lotus was about the intermingling lives and dysfunctions of the staff and guests. The show was the most awarded series at the 74th Emmys, winning Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Directing, and the respective Outstanding Actor awards for Jennifer Coolidge and Murray Bartlett. The unexpected success resulted in HBO renewing the series for a second season, resulting in the show being retooled into an anthology with a new location and new characters each season.

Aubrey Plaza had her breakthrough on another surprise hit, Parks and Recreation, and has been working steadily ever since, including a trippy turn in FX’s X-Men series, Legion. The trained improv comedian will soon be making the jump into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Agatha: Coven of Chaos, in an unannounced role. While it has not been confirmed, rumors persist that Plaza will be, finally, bringing one of the comic’s greatest villains to life, as Mephisto, the MCU version of the Devil.

Stalker Haley Lu Richardson has not been acting as long as Aubrey Plaza, with The White Lotus representing only her third long-term role, but she has quickly been making a name for herself with a critically acclaimed role opposite John Cho in Columbus. To date, Richardson’s largest role has been opposite Cole Sprouse in the film Five Feet Apart.