Gillian Anderson Comes Out as Pansexual at 58: "I Just Didn't Have the Language"

Gillian Anderson is telling her story on her own terms. The 58-year-old actress opened up in a new interview with The Australian, sharing that she was in relationships with women in her younger years, including an older girl in high school. She says she kept that relationship secret at the time because she simply didn’t have the language to describe what she was feeling.

That honesty comes years after she became a household name, and she gives some credit to her work on Netflix’s“Sex Education”for helping her get more comfortable talking about desire and identity. That experience inspired her to edit two collections of women’s letters about their own fantasies, titled“Want”and“More.”She also shared that she’s been with her partner,“The Crown”creator Peter Morgan, for about a decade, and she says she would feel the same way about him even if he were a woman.

Anderson’s story is a reminder that figuring out who you are doesn’t happen on a schedule. Some people know early. Some of us find the words much later. Either way, it’s never too late to be honest about your own life.

What’s something you figured out about yourself later than you expected? Tell us in the comments.