White Lotus Season 3: Belinda Chose Herself

That’s the Real Plot Twist

You ever notice how a Black woman choosing herself still manages to upset the balance of an entire narrative?

The Internet had a lot to say about Belinda’s decision to leave Thailand without tethering herself to a man she barely knew. She didn’t stay. She didn’t settle. She didn’t center his feelings over her intuition. And somehow, that made her the villain in a story that was never about her salvation through a man in the first place.

Meanwhile, Saxon does the bare minimum—he breathes in Chelsea’s direction—and suddenly he’s healed, reformed, worthy. We see this kind of imbalance all the time: men given medals for emotional crumbs, women crucified for saying no.

Let’s call it what it is: a mix of unconscious bias, misogyny, and the societal discomfort that erupts when a woman—especially a Black woman—decides that she is enough.

I watched Belinda walk away from that conversation and thought, yes, sister, yes! . That’s how you love you. After a lifetime of being the healer, the fixer, the safe place for everyone else’s unraveling, she finally chose her own peace.

She didn’t just de-center men—she re-centered herself.

And that’s the kind of ending I want more of. Not one where a woman earns her worth through someone else’s recognition, but one where she knows it, stands in it, and walks away from anything that doesn’t honor it.

Belinda didn’t mess up. She woke up.

Here are 5 ways you can wake up and choose you:

1. Pause before you pour.

Before you say yes out of habit, ask yourself: Do I even want to? Let your answer come from the body, not guilt.

2. Stop shrinking for comfort.

If something (or someone) asks you to be less so they can feel more, that’s not alignment—it’s suppression.

3. Let silence speak.

You don’t owe everyone your explanation. Choosing you might look like stillness, distance, or a door softly closing.

4. Validate your own knowing.

You don’t need a panel of approval to trust your intuition. Your intuition is sacred—listen when she whispers.

5. Make joy a non-negotiable.

Not performative, not forced—real joy. If it doesn’t feel like peace or freedom, it’s probably not for you.

So maybe the real revolution is in choosing yourself—softly, loudly, and unapologetically. Belinda’s choice wasn’t selfish, it was sacred. And in a world that demands we shrink to fit into other people’s stories, her walking away was the most radical love letter to herself.

Let this be your reminder: You don’t have to earn your peace. You don’t have to explain your healing. And you don’t need to stay where your spirit no longer thrives.

Choosing you is not abandonment. It’s a return home to your soul.

You are allowed to rewrite the ending.