Actress Gillian Anderson has finally put a name to something she has been openly exploring for years, revealing that she identifies as pansexual.
The X-Files and Sex Education star made the candid revelation in a new interview with The Australian while discussing her latest book, More, a follow-up to her bestselling 2024 collection Want.
In the interview, 58-year-old Anderson, who has been open on her fluid approach to love and attraction for years, told interviewer Nikki Gemmell that she is “pan”, as in “pansexual”, describing herself as being attracted to people of any gender.
The announcement is not entirely unexpected for those who have followed Anderson’s career. She has previously spoken about having relationships with women, including during her younger years.
In a 2024 interview with The New Yorker, however, Anderson was still questioning which label best described her, asking herself whether she was “pansexual” or “bisexual.”
Anderson has also gone on record before to clarify that she did not want to overstate her experiences with women or claim an identity that did not feel right to her. Her comments in the aforementioned The Australian interview therefore mark a more definitive step in describing her sexuality publicly.
The actress, active since 1986, is currently rumored to be in a relationship with playwright and screenwriter Peter Morgan, but has previously outlined that the fact her partner is a man does not necessarily define who she could fall in love with.
The revelation comes as Anderson continues to explore themes of sexuality, desire and intimacy through her work. Her new book More collects anonymous sexual fantasies submitted by women, following the success of Want, while she has credited her role as sex therapist Jean Milburn in Sex Education with helping her become more comfortable discussing sexuality openly.
She also said that the publication of her book and the release of the film Miasma, in which she has a starring role, could effectively close a chapter in her life, admitting: “Once this book is done and once this film [Miasma] is done, I feel like… it might be the end of this chapter of my life.”
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