The actor Gillian Anderson is best known for her role as FBI Special Agent Dana Scully, a skeptical, fearless foil to alien abduction conspiracist Fox Mulder on the ’90s hit series The X-Files.
Her character is believed to have inspired young women to enter the fields of science, medicine and law enforcement. She demanded a salary equal to her male X-Files co-star David Duchovny, both in the ’90s and the series’ recent reboot. Anderson now plays sexually empowered and dogged serial-killer hunting detective Stella Gibson on BBC series The Fall.
So it shouldn’t be much of a surprise she has put together a feminist self-help book with co-author and longtime friend Jennifer Nadel, a journalist and lawyer in the U.K.
We: A Manifesto for Women Everywhere was released last month by Atria Books as a sort of road map to living a more centred, authentic life. The word “journey” is used a lot and this one is based on a series of nine principles to be adopted in steps, such as honesty, acceptance, humility, peace, love and joy.
I’ve worked in women’s media most of my career and I used to say writers, “Don’t do another story telling women to take a bath and light a candle.” But, if taking a bath is the thing that helps you feel better about yourself, then there’s nothing wrong with that.
Gillian Anderson: Those little things, while they may seem frivolous, are really important. Baths are really important to me, but I really struggle to make them a priority. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, there’s a lot of things that I don’t do that one might normally do to fill time and to escape. Taking a bath really makes me feel like I am caring for myself on a profound level.
Just Holding Hands 