Gillian Anderson Admits She Has Regrets About Parenting While Filming ‘The X Files’

Gillian Anderson spent most of the ‘90s on our TV screens as FBI agent Dana Scully on The X Files, but behind the scenes, the actor was navigating marriage and motherhood while putting in long days of filming the wildly popular television series. Now 58, Anderson recently spoke with The Sunday Times and shared some pretty relatable regrets she has about those early days of learning how to be a parent.

Anderson — who currently stars alongside Hacks lead Hannah Einbinder in Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, a slasher film written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun — has three kids: Piper, 31, Oscar, 19, and Felix, 17. She told The Sunday Times she has “absolutely no regrets in her life,” but then corrected herself when she thought about what she’s learned about parenting through the years.

“No, there are a couple of things, in terms of early parenting, that I now would say, I wish I’d thought this through or I wish I’d been less selfish,” said Anderson. One example, she said, was that after divorcing her first husband in 1997, her daughter Piper spent lots of time commuting between the set of The X Files in Los Angeles and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where her father lived.

During this time, 6-year-old Piper attended a French school in both locations to keep her curriculum consistent during visits. “It was intense for her, with no French in the household, to suddenly be getting a plane every three weeks,” said Anderson. “It’s a lot to ask of a 6 year old.”

It’s also a good thing Piper is an adult now, or she may have opted out of seeing her mom’s role in Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, a bloody horror film that’s rolling out in select theaters now. Anderson said that in recent years, Piper has shared with her that “I allowed her to be exposed to certain things, like horror, way too young. I don’t think I realized that until I had younger kids.”

Anderson, who has also appeared in shows like The Crown, Sex Education, and The Fall since her early days of acting on The X Files, says she thinks she did a better job of guiding her two sons toward more age-appropriate viewing content. “I was much more protective about the influences on them,” she said. “They were stuck with Thomas the Tank Engine for way too long.”