White Lotus star Haley Lu Richardson reveals she 'stalked' one of her castmates

We’re used to hearing about celebrity crushes or mutual admiration, but not many stars admit to being downright creepy with their idols.

Enter The White Lotus protagonist Haley Lu Richardson, 27, who had no qualms about describing herself as a bit of a “stalker” during an interview with Jimmy Kimmel.

Richardson, who plays Gen Z poster-girl Portia, admitted she was obsessed with her co-star Aubrey Plaza, 38, long before they were both cast on the HBO hit show.

“I know she has a lot of crazed fans, but I’m like one of the top three,” she told Kimmel on Monday night.

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“I legitimately stalked her. Like, I didn’t just stalk her on social media. I showed up to places I was not invited knowing she was there.

“I got close to her cousins and her friends so that I would be invited into her life… and it worked!” she laughed, pointing out that they were now colleagues.

A baffled Kimmel then checked that Richardson’s ties to Plaza didn’t ultimately land her the White Lotus gig, joking that her cousins got her onto the show.

She clarified that they didn’t, but they did get her into the Legion actor's birthday party.

“I showed up at her birthday party – I was uninvited, she didn’t know I was coming [...] it was definitely an intimate, invite-only party – and she saw me from across the bar and she just went, ‘YOU’... and then walked away,” the 27-year-old recalled.

“It was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

She then revealed how Plaza responded to the news that Richardson had been cast alongside her on the award-winning series: “I got a text from an unknown number that was literally just a knife and a drip of blood.

“And I knew, I knew it was Aubrey!” she added gleefully.

Plaza plays steely lawyer Harper in the HBO showWarner Media

The pair have clearly become good friends since then, even teaming up for a magazine feature in which the Parks and Recreation legend attempted to dissect Richardson’s infatuation with her.

Plaza took the reins in the conversation for Interview Magazine, but Richardson quickly gushed: “I’m obsessed with you. Well, my life revolves around you. So if you’re asking me questions about me, they will end up being about you.”

“See, this is what I don’t understand and what I want to get to the bottom of,” Plaza responded.

The pair then discussed how they first met – at the MTV Movie & TV Awards – with Richardson reminding her hero “I told you that I watch on repeat compilations of you doing interviews on YouTube.

“You just stared at me and looked like you were going to kill me in my sleep,” she added.

Still, the admiration isn’t totally one-sided, and later during their discussion Plaza told her junior: “I think you are wise beyond your years. You have this pulsating orbit around you at all times that is so fun and carefree and childlike, but there’s something going on inside of you that is very, very wise, and smart, and adult, and mature.”

Richardson replied: “Wait. I feel overwhelmed. Thanks for saying all that. I feel like I always saw you on TV and in your interviews and I really got you as a person even before I met you. And that’s why I connected to you and am such a big fan and inspired by you deeply.”

Plaza responded with her classic deadpan charm: “This is about you, Haley.”

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