CULTURE

The Big Little Lies Cast All Wished Each Other a Happy Galentine’s Day

Except where's Meryl?

by Andrea Park

75th Annual Golden Globe Awards - Press Room
Kevin Winter

Ever since Leslie Knope declared February 13 Galentine’s Day in a 2010 episode of Parks and Recreation, the female-friendship-focused precursor to Valentine’s Day has become a mainstream holiday in its own right. Corporations bank on it, social media is flooded with it, and groups of friends gather together to celebrate it. Among this year’s celebrants were the women of the Big Little Lies cast, who may not have been able to reunite for waffles and handmade gifts on Wednesday as Leslie Knope intended, but who still made sure to give shout-outs to each other where it counts: on Instagram.

Reese Witherspoon kicked off the celebration on Wednesday morning when she posted a photo of herself, Laura Dern, Nicole Kidman, Zoë Kravitz, and Shailene Woodley. “True love is the love you have for your sisters, your girlfriends, your circle of strong women… and the ones who tell you that you have food in your teeth. Happy #GalentinesDay!” she wrote.

Dern and Kidman soon followed suit with group shots of their own: Dern’s showing all five women in their Audrey Hepburn costumes from the BLL season one finale, and Kidman’s a photo taken on the red carpet at the first season’s premiere, with the group smiling at and holding onto each other. “So grateful for my girls every single day,” Dern wrote, adding every single heart-shaped emoji she could find in her phone. Kidman, meanwhile, turned her post into a festive challenge, writing, “I’m loving seeing so many empowered women supporting women on my feed today for #GalentinesDay ? It reminds me how lucky I am to be surrounded by some truly talented ladies myself. I’d love if you tagged your best gals below and let them know just how special they are to you.”

BLL season two newcomer Meryl Streep neglected to wish her new squad a happy Galentine’s Day, though she has a pretty concrete excuse, since she doesn’t have accounts on any social media platforms. Kravitz and Woodley also withheld their own posts (but did like and comment on the ones their castmates shared), seemingly in keeping with their elder costars‘ habit of taking the lead. During a panel at the Television Critics Association press tour last week, the cast discussed how they split the bill during their regular group hangouts.

“Who pays? I pay. None of these girls ever pull out their credit card!” Witherspoon joked, per Harper’s Bazaar, then conceded, “Okay, Meryl paid once.” After Kidman cut in to assure everyone that she does, in fact, pull out her credit card, Kravitz admitted that she and Woodley don’t—but not for lack of trying. “They won’t let us pay! I’ve tried! We’ve tried, Shailene!” she said, to which Kidman replied, “You try, and we always pay. And we’re producers, we should be.” Woodley added, “Don’t even get me started on this. This is very upsetting to me.” Understandable, sure, but when Oscar winners who have set records for their per-episode rates want to pay for your Galentine’s get-together, it’s perfectly fine to keep your wallet closed.

Related: The Dramatic Stares in the Big Little Lies 2 Promo Images, Ranked