Natasha Rothwell Had 'Imposter Syndrome' on White Lotus Season 3 Working with 'People I Idolized Growing Up' (Exclusive)

Natasha Rothwell had more than a handful of first-day jitters when she walked back on the set of The White Lotus.

The actress — who starred in season 1 as Belinda, a spa manager who formed a tight bond with Jennifer Coolidge's Tanya —is the only returning cast member for the highly-anticipated third season, but even she had a few bumps in the road as she slipped back into character.

"Carrie Coon gave me the best descriptor. She's like, 'It's like putting on a wet bathing suit,'" Rothwell tells PEOPLE of preparing to revisit Belinda.

"You know it fits. You know it fits. And you know, once you get in the water, it's going to feel wonderful. But it's also just a little… You're just like, 'Wait a minute, does the arm go here? Okay.' And then you jump in, you're like, 'Oh, I know how... I know this.'"

The actual legwork of getting herself back into the mindset of the character was one thing, but Rothwell, 43, admits that there was another major roadblock in the early days of filming.

"These are people that I idolized growing up, and so sharing the screen with them, I had such imposter syndrome," she says, referring to the impressive slate of costars that includes Parker Posey (who "called me today") and Michelle Monaghan, who recently moderated a panel about Rothwell's new Hulu series, How to Die Alone.

"Even asking Michelle to moderate a panel, I told my team, I was like, 'She is Michelle Monaghan. There's no way she's going to do it.' And we were so close in Thailand — we were all so close — and she literally responded so fast, she was like, 'Absolutely,'" Rothwell shares. "She came prepared. She had watched the series, and it's just... You cre -

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ate a family when you do White Lotus."

A piece of advice from another one of her A-list costars, Carrie Coon, also helped Rothwell feel secure in herself on set.

"Carrie was actually the one who brought me back to Earth, because she was just like, 'We're all nervous to meet you because you were season one. You're, like, the OG.'"

It's not just Posey, Monaghan and Coon that Rothwell has bonded with, though. It's "every single person in the cast," she says. "We're on text chains... It's obnoxious, I think."

She praises creator Mike White for developing such a strong sense of camaraderie on set — and not just once, but three times over. "He has the Midas touch. He's very good at creating that chemistry."

"This is the thing that I will say is the same as season one: the connections you make on a White Lotus set are legit," she continues.

Similarly to Monaghan, her costar Leslie Bibb also stepped up recently to help Rothwell make "some videos to promote How to Die Alone. She's like, 'I'm there.'"

"Having people show up for me is also one of those pinch me moments where it's just like... I've done it so much for other people, I never expect reciprocity," she says. "And so it's been really cool to see that from all of the castmates I've ever had, but White Lotus particularly has been super supportive."

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Seasons 1 and 2 of The White Lotus can be streamed on HBO Max.

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