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Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny have been subjected to so many different rumors since their days on The X-Files. Two of the most persistent ones were that they were either sleeping together (remember when people tried to insinuate that Gillian’s now 16-year-old son, Felix, was secretly David’s son because his name is an anagram for “x-file”?) or that they hated each other. The first rumor was just baseless gossip, but there was something to the second one, which they both have confirmed in past interviews. During the show’s original run, things ended up getting so tense between the two of them that they’d go for weeks without speaking to one another.
My favorite TV duo has since mended fences and are now good friends. When David started his podcast, Fail Better, over the summer, Gillian made a really nice Instagram post praising it and naming specific episodes that she particularly enjoyed. David responded in her comments with an open invitation. Well, those two crazy kids were able to get their schedules together and Gillian is this week’s guest! David doesn’t waste any time and kicks off the episode by bringing up their old feud. They talk through it, and funnily enough, both have very different memories (and non-memories) of that time period.
“There was a long time, working on the show, where we were just not even dealing with one another off camera,” Duchovny recalled about six minutes into the episode, published Tuesday. “And there was a lot of tension ― which didn’t matter, apparently, for the work, cause we’re both fucking crazy, I guess. We could just go out there and do what we needed to do.”
“That is kind of crazy,” Anderson agreed. “I mean, it’s crazy that we were able to present on camera, you know, the various feelings and emotions and attraction and all that kind of stuff, but then not speak to each other for weeks at a time.”
Although the two actors are friends now, the pair openly disliked one another during the initial run of “The X-Files” from 1993 to 2002. As noted by The Independent, Duchovny told Metro in 2008 that he and Anderson “couldn’t stand the sight of each other.” Anderson told The Guardian in 2015 that their relationship was “intense,” acknowledging that both parties were “pains in the arse” and “there were definitely periods when we hated each other.”
Perhaps with this in mind, it only took Duchovny 11 minutes into Tuesday’s podcast to tell Anderson that he had a specific memory “of the most dysfunctional we ever were,” and ask if she could guess which incident he was thinking of.
“Tell me,” Anderson replied, seemingly having no idea what Duchovny was referencing.
The “Californication” star said the incident occurred the day after “some Emmys [ceremony],” and that he’d offered to give Anderson a lift to Vancouver on a private jet.
“And you were late, and I was so angry,” Duchovny recalled. “And then we sat on this private plane flying to Vancouver from L.A., not talking, and you wrote me a letter. So, you’re just like, six feet away from me, writing a letter to me… and it’s a beautiful letter. I don’t remember it exactly, but it was appreciative, and it was all the things that I wanted to hear. But it’s just amazing that we couldn’t just have [a conversation]. You know, the fact that it’s a private plane, it’s just all ridiculous.”
“I had no memory that we were even on a private plane together, let alone that I wrote you a letter on one,” the “Sex Education” star admitted.
But Duchovny wasn’t done. He recalled another moment during the filming of Season 1 when the two were butting heads so hard that the show’s creator, Chris Carter, pulled them into his office for a weird proposition.
“Chris was like, ‘Do you guys want to go, like, into therapy?’” Duchovny remembered. “And I was like, ‘You mean, as Mulder and Scully? I’m confused.’”
Anderson said she didn’t recall this instance either, and struggled to name a specific moment in which the two of them were terrible to one another.
Man, things must have been really bad on set if Chris Carter was offering them joint coworker therapy. I find it so interesting that while both agree that things got to a point where they didn’t like each other, they both have such different yet valid memories of events. It’s kinda crazy that the private plane thing and letter, something that’s stuck with David for decades, were merely a blip on Gillian’s radar. I think it’s a really fascinating look at human nature and how we each perceive things differently. As someone who suffers from a lot of anxiety, I have to constantly remind myself that just because I think someone is interpreting something that I did or said a certain way, it doesn’t mean that they actually are.
As a huge fan of both Gillian and David, I listened to the whole episode. I’m so happy that they get along so well now. They spend a fair amount of time clearing the air about different things that went down, with each sharing their perspective and lived experience. David apologizes for quitting the series during its original run without talking to her about it first and Gillian tells him that she never once blamed him. When he mentions that he was hurt when Gillian decided not to come back after the 2016/2018 revival seasons, she explains that she was merely frustrated at how “problematic” Scully’s story arc had gotten and felt it was time to move on. It was a very thoughtful, mature conversation. The funniest part, though, was a recurring joke they kept making about Gillian’s new drink, G Spot, and her “G Spot Team.” She brings one for David to try and tells him that it’s an aphrodisiac, so you can imagine the giggling and jokes that follow. Like I said, it’s a good listen for X-Files fans.
You can listen to Fail Better here. There’s bonus content from Gillian’s appearance for Lemonada Premium subscribers.
Photos credit: Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon, Nicky Nelson/Wenn/Avalon, Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Brian To/Wenn/Avalon