Aimee Lou Wood is winning hearts all over the world with her portrayal of eternal optimist Chelsea in HBO’s smash-hit series The White Lotus.
Aimee’s charming and sunny personality has endeared her to a whole new army of fans, proving that being yourself is a powerful statement.
And nowhere was she more herself than in a series of unearthed videos from her childhood that the star posted to Instagram.
Filmed with an old video recorder, the clip saw Aimee and her friend Lauren pretending to be on X Factor and doing fake auditions for the talent show.
“Never gets old @lauren.tidey I think this is 2003 and we’re 8 or 9. (I’m basing this on the release date of Shut Up by Black Eyed Peas),” she wrote in the caption.
Aimee looked so cute with her long wavy brown hair, sporting a yellow school uniform as she sang into the microphone with a big grin.
© InstagramShe sang to the tune of the Black Eyed Peas’ “Shut Up” before she was cut off by her friend. Lauren then proceeded to give her a judge’s comment, as if they really were on the X Factor.
After her friend ‘auditioned’ with Natasha Bedingfield’s “These Words”, Aimee told Lauren that she was “fan-beeping-tastic” in her judge’s feedback.
Her fans took to the comments to fawn over the hilarious video, with one writing, “So so sweet!” while another added, “Oh my sweetness. This is so cute.”
© FilmMagic for HBOAnother commenter quipped, “No changes! Incredible…” while a fourth gushed over her cute demeanor.
Aimee opened up about embracing weirdness as her “superpower” in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, garnering praise for her willingness to break from the typical Tinseltown mold.
“I spent a lot of my life worrying about being weird, and now I’m realizing it could be my superpower,” she told the outlet.
© Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty ImageReese Witherspoon, a huge fan of The White Lotus, took to Instagram to share how much she related to Aimee, writing, “I love this!” in her stories.
The mother of three later shared a sweet story about teaching her kids that being different is okay, inspired by Aimee’s quote.
“We were out to dinner the other night — me and my girlfriend and my two boys — and my girlfriend said, ‘What is one thing that your mom says to you that you always remember?'” Reese recalled on Instagram.
© HBO“And one of them said, ‘She tells me, if I have a choice to be normal or if I have a choice to be weird, I should be weird and it’s OK to stand out and be different.'”
She gushed: “It just meant so much to me that my kids know that it’s okay to be different and that it can actually end up being your superpower.”
Aimee has become a fan-favourite on the show, with The White Lotus audience praising the 31-year-old for embracing her natural and unique teeth.
© Shutterstock“I can’t believe the impact my teeth are having,” she exclaimed on The Jonathan Ross Show. “Because the Americans can’t believe — but they’re all being lovely.”
“They dissect my teeth and say what’s wrong with it,” she added. “But at the end go, ‘But we don’t think she should change a thing.’ Oh my God, it feels so lovely. A real full-circle moment after being bullied for my teeth forever.”
She continued: “Now people are clapping in an audience ’cause I’ve got these gnashers.”
