The White Lotus’ Theo James reveals truth behind full-frontal nude scene

If the size of Theo James’ penis in the White Lotus came as a shock, the star has now confirmed it is fake.

Fans were left thirsting after James’s character, wealthy businessman Cameron Babcock, stripped off in the first episode of the acclaimed HBO series’ second season, giving viewers (and his character’s friend’s wife) an eyeful.

Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on 2 December, James joked he “can’t breathe sometimes because of the weight of it”, before confirming it was a prosthetic.

Jimmy Fallon said knowing it was a fake made “so many men feel so good”.

James, not-so-seriously, said he went into the scene with the mindset of “Jesus Christ! I’m up for it”.

But the Divergent actor clarified the nude scene involved discussions between the director and producers, and other crew, to work out what prosthetic would be used.

He had asked the make-up designer for something “regular-Joe”, he said.

He wanted something “not distracting” because the scene was not about the penis but “power play” and whether his character deliberately let his penis be seen.

However, James said it was “ginormous” and compared it to a hammer or something from a donkey.

“It was about nine-inches flaccid and about four-inches wide.”

As to what happened with the prosthetic after filming, James said he hasn’t kept it and laughed along with the audience at the idea of having done so.

With the season nearly over, the actor went on to say he regularly gets questioned about how the storyline plays out – including in some pretty weird places, like at a urinal earlier in the day of his Tonight Show appearance.

When the episode originally aired in late October, James told Entertainment Tonight the nudity that ended up on screen is “a more subtle version” than what was initially shot.

It’s not the White Lotus’ first foray into full frontal male nudity.

Steve Zahn similarly bared all in the first episode of the first season, lifting his bathrobe to show his wife his enlarged testicles.

There have also been gay sex scenes, including the infamous rimming scene between Lukas Gage and Murray Bartlett’s characters in season one and a “transgressive sex” scene in season two.