Gillian Anderson, the actress best known for playing Scully in the X-Files, has revealed to Out magazine that she used to be a little ol’ lezzie in high school. This is back when she was a purple-haired punk rocker who was voted “Most Likely To Be Arrested” for senior superlatives (didn’t even know that one existed).
Says Anderson, of her wild-child days in rockin’ Grand Rapids, Michigan:
“Based on how I chose to look, dress, behave, you know—the relationships I was in at the time were freaking people out… I was in a relationship with a girl for a long time when I was in high school, and then I was in a relationship with a punk rock drug addict who… And then I was in a relationship with somebody who was way, way older than me. Everything that that kind of anarchistic attitude brings—the inappropriate behavior it leads to—was how I chose to be in the world at that time, which was, you know, not what people did.”
A real live has-bian! Whodathunkit?
The 44-year-old actress now has a 17-year-old daughter from a previous relationship (with a man) and two young sons with her current partner (a man). Her latest break onto the American scene: playing the wealthy spinster Miss Havisham in a BBC adaption of Great Expectations, set to air stateside on PBS in a few months.
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1equalityUSA
The truth is out there
Cam
I see her publicist decided she wasn’t getting enough press so told her to break out a “I was once with women” story for the press.
They will use these stories if they follow two rules.
1. The relationship had to have happened a LONG time ago.
2. They have to either be in a relationship with a man NOW, or to have had children with a man from a relationship that took place AFTER the supposed one with another woman.
The publicist thinks that this will prove that “Oh gee, just a youthful thing” and it will titilate the men without them thinking that she is really one of “THEM”.
MEJ
Everything that that kind of anarchistic attitude brings—the inappropriate behavior it leads to—was how I chose to be in the world at that time
Yes, because dating another girl is inappropriate.
Evan Mulvihill
@1equalityUSA: If I could star your comment, I would.
Lefty
That’s a great adaptation of Great Expectations. She’s wonderful in it, too. 🙂
Steve
A teenager experimented with their sexuality? STOP THE PRESSES.
Christopher Banks
Oh dear – you mean it WAS just a phase?
xamthor
yes, this does happen quite a lot. College women who do not identify as lesbian do experiment with a lesbian relationship. Human sexuality is a complicated thing.
What i’m curious to know is how do these women vote later in life?
Do they become allies to the gay community? Does this sort of experience generate tolerance and understanding to gay issues?
If so, we need to send more women to college.
Mike
What a surprise more biphobia and bisexual erasure from queerty as usual. I don’t see what the big deal is since she’s bisexual and more into men.
Cam
@Mike:
What a surprise, somebody coming in here playing the victim and complaining about bi-phobia, but being unable to point out what was biphoic.
jason
I don’t see bi-phobia in this article. It is fair and justified to be suspicious about a woman’s statements regarding her sexuality. That’s because women are known to say they are bisexual for attention. Men fake it in the other way – ie they deny that they are bisexual. Men tend to stick to the old “I’m straight” or “I’m gay” line.
While both forms of faking are wrong, a woman’s is much worse because it appeals to a base that is generally not gay-friendly (ie sleazy straight guys). Thus, it reflects the almost genetic need of women to market themselves to men.
Dorothea from Germany
@MEJ: I had the same thought when I read her statement.
Mike
Cam-It’s biphobic and bisexual erasure since they’re calling her “lesbian” until graduation or in her youth, when she’s actually bisexual and still is even if she’s in a monogamous relationship with a guy.
Max
Also the idea of a Hasbian is biphobic and bisexual erasure propagated by lesbians.
tookietookie
Bisexual erasure ROFL!
I like to choke people with my d–k, not my politics.
Max
Oh you mean your clit tookie? Nobody cares.
Quentin
So she is bisexual? I believe she talked about this years ago, perhaps even when The X-Files was on air. Nothing wrong with that.
X-Files, however was not that gay friendly, including the latest film. Chris Carter’s Millennium even less so (had several homophobic depictions of gay villains). David Duchovny’s show Californication is homophobic, biphobic and transphobic in a different, more casual way. Since the latest season it is also racist. But it doesn’t have an excuse of being 20 years old.
Jimmy Velvet
This bee-ach had to get publicity SOMEHOW…
Brian
Oh Scully, you sexy, sexy thing you. This article just reminded me that none of the shows today are as good as the X Files was back in the day.
Carl
Someone had an experimental relationship as a teenager before settling down into their sexuality as they matured? Shock. Horror. Whatever. She’s still hot at her age lol
Geri
@jason: & @Queerty Of course it’s yet more biphobic bullshit in this article and the same old tedious mysogny from you Jason. Gillian Anderson didn’t say she was “lesbian until graduation” – that’s a mindless biphobic slur right up there with “bi now, gay later” and “fence-sitter”
Troy
Well to be fair to queerty here the Out interview is just as guilty of bi erasure, at least they managed a entire article about how she had been in relationships with both men and women and never use the word “bi”.
But they also didn’t use the biphobic and misogynistic term of “Has-bian”. Throw in a “lezzie” and it appears that Evan Mulvihill hates everyone who isn’t a gay man.
Geri
@Troy: Queerty has no excuse for calling Gillian Anderson a has-bian or an LUG. The way the OUT article is written is bad enough – especially the headline: “The Double Life Of Gillian Anderson” – but it doesn’t sink to the level of biphobic name-calling.
Queerty didn’t even bother to link to the piece in OUT or read it all the way through it seems, because it doesn’t just mention the girl she had a relationship with in high school. It also says: “Anderson says she has had relationships with other women, but they have been the exception, not the rule” without any indication as to when she had these relationships.
Amanda
I know it’s normal for journalists to use sensationalist headlines to sell stories–but I don’t think homosexual or heterosexual people fully understand just how frustating it is for bisexual people (like myself) to be constantly bombarded by biphobic and ignorant headlines and commentary every time something like this pops up. Terms like “hasbian” and “lesbian until graduation” are funny, granted, but ultimately counterproductive to bisexuality becoming fully understood and accepted in society. It needs to be understood that biophobia is as toxic and harmful as homophobia is, and that the treatment we receive in contemporary society is similar to what the gay community endured 50 years ago. People who use this terms in jest should pause for a second to think about what out bisexual people have to endure before they flippantly throw these slurs around.