She spent years asking herself the question out loud. Now, at 58, Gillian Anderson has an answer.

The X-Files and Sex Education star told The Australian this week that she identifies as pansexual — attracted to people regardless of gender. It’s a word she’d circled for years without quite landing on.

A Question She Couldn’t Shake

Back in 2024, speaking to The New Yorker, Anderson admitted she wasn’t sure which label fit. She wondered aloud whether she was pansexual or bisexual, unwilling to claim an identity that didn’t feel earned.

That uncertainty wasn’t new. Anderson has spoken before about relationships with women, including a same-sex romance she kept hidden during high school. She’s described that early relationship as something she had to hide out of fear.

The Interview That Changed the Answer

Speaking with journalist Nikki Gemmell for The Australian, published September 10, Anderson didn’t hedge this time. She said simply that she’s “pan” — pansexual — drawn to people across the gender spectrum.

The timing isn’t random. Anderson is promoting her new book, More, a follow-up to her 2024 bestseller Want. Both collect anonymous accounts from women about desire, sex and identity — work she says grew directly out of playing sex therapist Jean Milburn on Sex Education.

Why She Waited

Anderson has been careful, publicly, not to overstate her past relationships with women or claim a label just for the sake of having one. That caution is part of what makes this moment land differently. This isn’t a rebrand. It’s the end of a years-long process of figuring out the right word.

She’s currently linked to screenwriter Peter Morgan, but has made clear that being with a man doesn’t erase or define the rest of who she’s attracted to.

What We Know

Anderson, 58, told The Australian on September 10 that she identifies as pansexual.
In 2024, she publicly questioned whether “pansexual” or “bisexual” better described her.
She has previously discussed a hidden same-sex relationship from her teenage years.
Her new book, More, follows 2024’s Want, both built from women’s anonymous accounts of desire.
She credits her Sex Education role with helping her speak more openly about sexuality.
She is currently in a relationship with screenwriter Peter Morgan.

Why This Matters

For a lot of people — especially those over 40 — sexuality doesn’t arrive as a single lightning-bolt moment. It’s a slow, sometimes decades-long process of language catching up to feeling. Anderson’s story resonates because she didn’t rush it, and she didn’t perform certainty she didn’t have.

At a time when public figures face pressure to define themselves quickly and permanently, Anderson’s path — years of “maybe,” followed by a clear answer — offers something different: proof that it’s okay to take your time.

She said it herself, almost matter-of-factly: some things just take longer to name than others.