Gillian Anderson says being ‘basically married’ to David Duchovny created a ‘complex relationship’

There have been long standing reports of tensions between The X-Files stars

Former X-Files actor Gillian Anderson has shared her honest thoughts on her long time co-star David Duchovny, saying that the pair shared a “complex relationship”.

Anderson played FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in The X-Files, which ran for nine seasons between 1993 and 2001. It was revived for two more seasons in 2016. Duchovny, who played agent Fox Mulder, was in the show for the same amount of time but carried on until 2002.

Throughout the Nineties, there were reports of tension between Duchovny and Anderson, with the former denying any “animosity”.

Now in an appearance on the first episode of the new season of the Table Manners podcast with Jessie and Lennie Ware, Anderson has opened up on her friendship with Duchovny and learning more about him from his podcast, Fail Better with David Duchovny.

The Sex Education star said: “We’ve always had quite a complex relationship. You know, when you work that intensely with somebody for such a long time, I mean we were basically married to each other.”

On his podcast, 56-year-old Anderson added: “I’ve actually listened to his podcast a fair number of times, and I think it’s good, it’s interesting. It’s interesting hearing a man talk so openly about emotional things. I feel like I’ve learnt more about him listening to his podcast than from working with him.”

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson (Getty Images)

Anderson has previously admitted to there “definitely being periods when we hated each other”, while Duchovny told Metro in 2008: “Familiarity breeds contempt. It’s nothing to do with the other person. All that fades away and you’re just left with the appreciation and love for the people you’ve worked with for so long. We used to argue about nothing. We couldn’t stand the sight of each other.”

In a July 2024 interview with The Times, Duchovny said that Anderson had nothing to do with him leaving The X Files in 2002.

“That was just me wanting to have a family, but also to try other things,” he said. “It had kind of taken up my life. There was no animosity with the actual show and the people that I worked with. I am proud of the show – it was culturally central in a way that it’s very hard to do these days in a fragmented landscape.

“There’s so many lightning-strike aspects to it that I can’t help but think of it as some kind of a miracle.”