Gillian Anderson Talks Past Lesbian Relationships

Roger Erickson/Out magazine

Gillian Anderson, the actress best known for playing agent Dana Scully on The X-Files, acknowledges having had romantic relationships with women in the past.

Speaking to Out, the actress tells how in her youth she was voted "Most Bizarre" and "Most Likely to Be Arrested." Embellishing on her desire to shock at such a young age, she admits to having a relationship with a girl, "for a long time when I was in high school."

When asked if that meant a lesbian relationship, Anderson says, "Yeah, yeah, well it's… You know, I'm old enough that I can talk about that."

Elsewhere in the interview, Anderson downplays other same sex relationships she had. "If I had thought I was 100 percent gay, would it have been a different experience for me?" She continues, "Would it have been a bigger deal if shame had been attached to it and all those things that become huge life-altering issues for youngsters in that situation? It's possible that my attitude around it came, on some level, from knowing that I still liked boys."

Gillian Anderson will star as Miss Havisham in an upcoming adaptation of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations which will air on PBS April 1.