Michelle Monaghan Reveals What it Was Like Living with Parker Posey While Filming White Lotus (Exclusive)

Michelle Monaghan shares a special bond with her White Lotus family.

Seven months of filming season 3 of the hit HBO series in Thailand allowed for plenty of time for the actress, 48, to get to know her castmates, she tells PEOPLE exclusively. While Monaghan says she “of course” grew close with Leslie Bibb and Carrie Coon — who played a trio of longtime friends on a girls’ trip — she found connections with others as well.

“I also got to live with Parker Posey,” she reveals, calling her “my indie queen.” “I got to spend a lot of time with her."

"And Natasha [Rothwell], and [I] really bonded with Walton [Goggins], to be honest," she adds. "He's a friend that we've had mutual friends over the years in common and we've circled each other, but we really got to hang and get to know each other really well on the show, which was awesome.”

Monaghan calls the dynamic among the cast “beautiful,” going on to share some of their favorite things to do when cameras went down.

“Everything from going out and eating to experiencing the Full Moon Party,” she says, referring to the traditional Thai beach party that goes on all night each to celebrate the full moon every month. “A lot of us spent a lot of time on boats. We went snorkeling and diving. To live in this place that's so tropical, it was just kind of a dream come true in that respect. We took advantage of all those things.”

“A lot of us that were gym rats,” she continues. “So we would eat our breakfast and then we'd all meet in the gym and we'd do our run and our respective workouts. On the days off, we'd go and find some sort of adventure, like a temple or whatever it was, to go and see.”

The mom of two also had some visitors at her temporary home, which brought some of her favorite memories. 

“My family came out for quite a bit of the time,” she says. “They were out for spring break, and then they came out for the whole summer, so we had some beautiful quality time out there. We all got our diving certificates, which is something that was very memorable. This experience was something that was once-in-a-lifetime for me. Not just artistically, creatively, but really personally. It will always be very special to me.”

Having Monaghan’s kids on set was not just exciting for her — costar Aimee Lou Wood tells PEOPLE everyone was happy to have them around.

“It was so great when Michelle's family came because they brought the real world in,” Wood explains. “We all needed them. Michelle obviously needed to see them, but I was like ‘Oh my God, people!’ Because it was only us and the crew in these hotels, and then it was just so relaxing when there was real life coming in. It was good. That was a good time.”

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New episodes of The White Lotus season 3 air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.