MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Every week, a famous guest draws a card from the Wild Card deck and answers a big question about their life. Natasha Rothwell plays Belinda on HBO's "The White Lotus." Her character works at a resort on the show - the resort on the show - a woman of color surrounded by rich, white guests. She says the character is informed by her own experience as a young person thinking about how race and luxury intersect.
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NATASHA ROTHWELL: I remember traveling when I was real, real broke and seeing a Black person sitting in first class when I was on my way to coach. And it subconsciously let me know that I should be able to do that, that I could do that, that I belonged in that space.
KELLY: Rothwell helped write a version of that experience into the new season of "White Lotus" out now. She reflected on other experiences that have shaped her life with Wild Card host Rachel Martin, including the influence her parents had on her.
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RACHEL MARTIN: What does age teach you about love?
ROTHWELL: My parents celebrated 47 years being married on the 23 of February. And I have had a front seat to their love for 44 years. And seeing my parents' love at this age, it's beautiful, you know? They go to each other's appointments, and they know each other's meds. It's the cutest thing. And my mom forgets - it's just - and my - they call (laughter) Bay (ph) and Day (ph) are their nicknames for each other. My dad's David and my mom's Sharon, but Baby, so Bay and Day. And she'll be like, no, Day, you can't have that.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
ROTHWELL: You know, like, you put that down - you're allergic. And it's a beautiful thing to see that expression of love over time.
MARTIN: And what do you take from what they're teaching you by example? Like, are there things they demonstrated for you that you find that you apply in your own life, in your own relationships?
ROTHWELL: Yeah, there's just - quitting is not on the table. You know, there's the stick-to-itiveness. And, you know, they have grown together and have accepted all of those versions of each other. And my dad had a very demanding job in the Air Force, and my mom was raising four children. And, you know, there was mutual respect and understanding and levity. Like, they played all the time. And I think too, like, my dad is, you know, losing his eyesight in one of his eyes, and my mom just got her knee replaced. And I'm always joking - I'm like, you guys don't make a whole person unless you're together. Like, he's got...
MARTIN: (Laughter).
ROTHWELL: ...One eye. You got one knee. And I'm just like, what is going on? So it's - there's, like, you know - I see just how ordinary and extraordinary their love is.
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KELLY: You can see Natasha Rothwell in the new season of "White Lotus" out now on HBO. And you can hear more of that conversation with Rachel on the Wild Card podcast. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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