‘The White Lotus’ star reveals her character’s cut backstory

Warning: This article contains spoilers for season two of The White Lotus.

The White Lotus has aired its penultimate installment for season two and, in this episode, we see hotel manager Valentina in her most vulnerable moment yet.

If you haven’t yet seen episode six we suggest that you do so before reading on as we will be mentioning spoilers from here on out.

In “Abductions,” Valentina is left with her heart broken after finding out that hotel employees Isabella and Rocco are engaged. After learning this she decides to cash in her arrangement with Mia to “have some fun.”

Speaking to Variety, actress Sabrina Impacciatore, who plays Valentina, spoke about this development with her character, and how she was crafted, even mentioning a cut scene that provided a backstory to the audience regarding her relationship with men.

“In the first days, I was just following Mike’s indications without really understanding where he wanted to bring me. But he wanted to explore with me, and some scenes we shot ended up being cut, including one about Valentina’s past where she says she was married once, to a man, but she wasn’t happy.

“So I invented a backstory about a husband who was abusive to her. I created everything I could to get close to her process.”

Going further, Impacciatore details the struggle that her character is going through and how much of an impact it had on filming the sex scene with Mia in this latest episode.

“That day, when I shot the scene where I say, ‘I’ve never been with a woman before,’ I remember what I felt. I was not acting, I was living the conflict of this character in a very deep way. It made me understand, ‘How do people that don’t accept themselves live their lives?’

“After that scene, I cried for half an hour. I jumped into Mike’s arms and told him, ‘I love you! Thank you!’ And he said, ‘Sabrina? Why do you say that? It’s you who is doing these things.’ And I told him, ‘I’m doing these things because of you. And I’m understanding more about life because of you’.”

While the show hasn’t yet shown any backstory to Valentina the way that Impacciatore has portrayed her has done wonders to fill in that missing information without outright saying or showing what went on.

With just one episode left it remains to be seen what is next for Valentina as The White Lotus becomes the scene of a crime.