American icon Billy Dee Williams released his memoir earlier this month. In the book, titled, What Have We Here?, the 86-year-old Star Wars actor shares anecdotes about his considerable career, including some wild stories about experiences with fellow stars. Well, back in the 1970s, there were rumors that Williams was gay. These rumors have followed him for years and although they began during a time when it could have ruined his career, Billy Dee didn’t care. So when Page Six asked him about them in a recent interview, BDW had an epic response.
Billy Dee Williams — who rose to fame as Lando Calrissian in the original “Star Wars” trilogy — never cared that people thought he was gay in the 70s.
While speaking to Page Six about the rumors that could have jeopardized his career at the time, he said, “I’ve been called a ‘Closet Queen.’ But, I don’t pay much attention to any of that.”
Earlier this month, the actor released his rollicking memoir “What Have We Here?” which covers not only his 7 decades-long career but also stories of the many famous people he met along the way, such as Marlon Brando, James Baldwin, Laurence Olivier and Angela Lansbury.
The Harlem native — who is turning 87 in April — writes that he was always comfortable hanging out with members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and even attended secret gay parties in the Metropolitan Opera’s basement when he was an extra.
“It all seemed very normal to me,” he shares. “I was around it all of my life, so I never really gave it much thought.”
In his book, the “Brian’s Song” actor recalls a recent conversation with his daughter (he’s been married 3 times) in which he discussed Carl Jung’s theory of anima and animus. The famed psychoanalyst believed that animus is an unconscious masculine side to women, while anima is the unconscious feminine side to men.
“I told my daughter about it,” he recalls. “I was talking about why men should get more in touch with the female side of themselves and then my daughter told me — the first time I ever heard the phrase — gender fluid. My daughter was very happy to think that I was gender fluid!”
The “DWTS” alum notes that he finds the current wars over gender “really amusing, to say the least.”
Billy talked about the gender fluid thing in an interview back in 2019, too. It’s neat that the topic had such an impact on him that he included it in his memoir. I understood what he meant at the time about gender being fluid in terms of everyone having both masculine and feminine qualities that they should get in touch with. I know BDW’s had more roles than just Lando Calrissian, but as we’ve talked about before, the Star Wars fandom has such a toxic subset that it’s really great to hear one of the actors speak so openly and positively about the LGBTQIA+ community. This man is so freaking cool. I would love to meet him at a convention one of these days.
photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon and Getty, James Warren/Bang Showbiz/Avalon, B2820 / Avalon and Getty