Gillian Anderson on opening up about late former girlfriend: 'I wanted to honour her instead of hiding my experience'

The actress’s ex-girlfriend died in 2011, after a brain tumour

Gillian Anderson felt that she owed it to her late former girlfriend to open up about their relationship.

The actress – who first discussed her gay relationship in 2012 – was in high school when the two dated "for a long time", but thought it was important not "hide" what happened, following her death in 2011.

"She had died of a brain tumour a year earlier and I had never really spoken about her," Anderson told Even magazine.

"She was a beautiful person who was very meaningful in my life and I wanted to honour her instead of hiding my experience.

"There was a point years after we split when she phoned to tell me to say she had been offered a large amount of money to sell a photograph of us together and had chosen not to do it.

"It was a very big decision because she really could have used the money.

"I felt it was very important to take the onus off that type of relationship, to say this happened and I feel no shame about it."

Anderson has had two husbands (whom she has now divorced) and has three children, Felix, Piper and Oscar.

"I was in a relationship with a girl for a long time when I was in high school,” she told Out Magazine in 2012.

"You know, I’m old enough that I can talk about that… If I had thought I was 100 percent gay, would it have been a difference experience for me?

"Would it have been a bigger deal if shame had been attached to it and all those things that become huge life-altering issues for youngsters in that situation?"

"It’s possible that my attitude around it came, on some level, from knowing that I still liked boys."