Natasha Rothwell Says She 'Felt Like Twins' with Who TF Did I Marry?'s Reesa Teesa When They First Met (Exclusive)

Natasha Rothwell is eager to bring Reese Teese’s viral multi-part TikTok series to the big screen — but not for the reasons you might think.

The actress tells PEOPLE she was “tagged in so many videos” related to the show while in Thailand filming Season 3 The White lotus.

Her phone blew up, but it wasn’t until one of her relatives sent her a “dressed up movie cover of me in Who did I marry?” that she said, “I have to see what it’s about.”

“I bit on the spot,” Rothwell, 43, admits of Tareasa “Reesa Teesa” Johnson’s harrowing 52-part series about her tumultuous marriage and divorce from the man she calls Legion.

TikTok Influencer ‘Who TF Did I Marry?’ The story will be developed into a TV series starring Natasha Rothwell

Rothwell says her first thought after watching the series — which has garnered more than 6 million views on each of its 52 videos — wasn’t, “Oh, how can I make something out of this?” Instead, she thought, “‘I want to do everything in my power to help this woman get her flowers,’ because it was the most tender act of honesty [and] radical vulnerability I’ve ever seen.”

Rees Tee’s ‘Who TF Did I Marry?’ series on TikTok.

Rees Teesa/TikTok

The actress says there were “very competitive” talks in Hollywood about the story, but her reps encouraged her to meet with Johnson to share her vision for the series.

“I was not interested in her trauma and [made me] I want to throw my hat in the ring, she was — who she is as a person, how she survived it all — and viral fame, how she survives it. I thought, ‘Oh, now I’m leaning now’.”

Natasha Rothwell had “impostor syndrome”. White lotus Season 3 Working With ‘People I Idoled Growing Up’ (Exclusive)

Her experience during almost eight years of working at How to die alone – the Hulu series she created, produced and stars in, which premiered earlier this month — influenced how she handled the meeting.

“Everybody in Hollywood was fighting to get it, and I think I had the same approach How to die alonewhere it’s just like — if it’s meant to be, it will happen.”

Her strategy paid off. “I received a call from my team, [and they said]’She specifically wants to work with you. You saw her at the meeting. She felt seen. It wasn’t opportunistic.”

Natasha Rothwell in “How to Die Alone”.

Disney/Lindsay Sarazin

Former Saturday night live the writer says she’s “so honored” to be chosen by Johnson, and when the series was announced on Sept. 4, the TikToker wrote in a post that she’s “BEYOND excited to be working with Natasha Rothwell” — so the feeling is clearly mutual.

The pair first met in person at a dinner earlier this month, and Rothwell says they immediately felt “like twins”.

“We were in such a love bubble together just enjoying each other, understanding each other and learning about each other,” she said.

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As for the actual logistics of the project, Rothwell says it’s still in the “very early stages.”

“But I’m definitely excited to take a 360-degree approach to her story [degree] way, and not just…to retell the story we’ve all consumed. I think she’s much more interesting than what happened to her.”

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Source: HIS Education