Gillian Anderson has officially come out as pansexual after years of uncertainty over which term best suited her. The news came during an interview with The Australian on September 10, as Anderson promotes her new book More. She told the publication that she is “pan, as in pansexual, as in attracted to all genders.”

The confirmation that Gillian Anderson is pansexual comes years after the actor has openly discussed her sexuality with the press. In 2024, while promoting her bestselling book Want, an edited collection of anonymous letters from women about sexuality and the precursor to More, Anderson discussed her sexuality with The New Yorker: “Now, at the age of 55, I am thinking, Oh, am I pansexual? Am I bisexual?”

As the X-Files and Sex Education star was on the press junket for Jane Schoenbrun’s satirical horror Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, conversations around sex and sexuality quickly became a recurring theme.

Anderson plays Billy Preston, a former scream queen from the original fictional Camp Miasma, whose character becomes involved with Kris, a young director played by openly bisexual actor Hannah Einbinder, as she attempts to reboot the in-world slasher franchise. The film’s sapphic storyline has placed Anderson once again in a project centred on queer intimacy, sexuality and desire.

During these press interviews, Anderson reiterated that she has previously had relationships with women, something she first discussed publicly with OUT magazine in 2012. She later confirmed this again in her interview with The Australian, saying, “In my younger years I was in relationships with women.”

Anderson has attributed her role as sex therapist Jean Milburn in the Netflix comedy-drama Sex Education as one of the reasons she feels comfortable speaking so candidly about her own sexuality and having more open discussions about the topic. She also credits the role with inspiring her two books, Want and More.

Despite her openness, Anderson believes the more sexually focused aspects of her career could be coming to a close. “Once this book is done and once this film is done, I feel like… it might be the end of this chapter of my life.”