Aubrey Plaza never watched ‘The White Lotus’ because she forgot her Max password

Malia Mendez | (TNS) Los Angeles Times

Stars, they’re just like us (sort of).

In a Tuesday interview with the Wall Street Journal, Aubrey Plaza shared her all-too-relatable experience of forgetting the password to her Max account. Not quite so universal, though, was the consequence of that memory lapse: She’s never seen her own Emmy nominated performance. (Yes, this explanation — like a lot of great TV shows and movies — requires suspension of disbelief.)

Plaza, who rose to sitcom stardom on “Parks and Recreation,” garnered widespread acclaim for her portrayal of the quick-witted employment lawyer Harper Spiller in Season 2 of Mike White’s “The White Lotus.” In its sophomore year, the black comedy drama garnered 23 Emmy nominations — including Plaza’s for best supporting actress in a drama — and won in five categories.

But the 40-year-old actor dryly insists she has yet to find success streaming the season herself.

“To be honest, I had trouble opening my HBO Max account when I was trying to watch it originally,” Plaza said. “I couldn’t figure out the password, and I usually just give up when I can’t figure out the passwords. I just can’t handle things like that.”

“I’d love a DVD,” she deadpanned, “but they don’t send DVD sets anymore. I ask them every time.”

Last year, Plaza told Vanity Fair about a similar hiccup she’d had while trying to stream Bravo’s “Top Chef.”

“[I] couldn’t figure out how to f— get Hulu+ Live. I give up! I can’t. I just can’t,” she said, adding that she regularly resorts to purchasing TV shows and movies on iTunes. “My husband will be like, ‘You literally can watch that for free on HBO Max.’”

Even if she did iron out the technical difficulties, though, Plaza might still avoid becoming her own audience member.

“Unless I’m producing something,” she said in Vanity Fair’s Scene Selection video series, “I generally don’t watch it.”

But the “Emily the Criminal” lead doesn’t have to see her own shows to feel connected to her characters, including Harper Spiller.

“I found [Harper] very sympathetic. I really relate to her in a lot of ways. Because you know early on that she’s not really from this world of the ultra, ultra rich,” Plaza told The Times in 2022. “She’s our way into that world, in some ways.”

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