Gillian Anderson shares she identifies as pansexual
Gillian Anderson (Getty Images)
Gillian Anderson is opening up about her sexuality, revealing she identifies as pansexual.
The X-Files and Sex Education star told The Australian in a 10 September interview that she is “pan, as in pansexual, as in attracted to all genders”, marking a notable move toward a specific label for a part of her identity she has discussed publicly for years. Anderson previously spoke about relationships with women and described herself as sexually fluid. In a 2024 interview with The New Yorker, Anderson reflected on her sexuality and wondered aloud: “Am I pansexual? Am I bisexual?”, wondering which term best described her.
Now, she’s claimed the label that best represents her.
The 58-year-old actress, who is currently in a relationship with screenwriter Peter Morgan, also reflected extensively on sex, desire and vulnerability in the interview, which comes as she promotes More, the follow-up to her bestselling 2024 book Want. The books collect anonymous sexual fantasies and reflections from women around the world, with Anderson acting as a facilitator for stories that range from explicit fantasies to deeply intimate explorations of grief, body image, desire and tenderness.
Anderson says she considers herself “a very sexual being”, while acknowledging that her relationship with sexuality has evolved throughout her life. She credits her role as sex therapist Jean Milburn in Sex Education with helping spark her open conversations about sex and ultimately inspiring the books.
She also talks candidly about being a woman in her late 50s and feeling more comfortable, empowered, and at ease with herself. “I feel like we can take on the world,” she says when reflecting on this stage of her life.
Her openness about sexuality has long helped earn Anderson a devoted LGBTQ+ following, from Dana Scully in The X-Files to Jean in Sex Education and her latest role in Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, a film which centres queer characters and sapphic intimacy.
Anderson says she may be approaching the end of this particularly sex-focused chapter of her career, saying “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.” But for now, she’s continuing to talk candidly about desire, identity and the complicated ways people understand themselves.
And yes, she was also asked about the body parts she finds most attractive: forearms and hands on men; lips, buttocks and the clavicle on women.
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