Gillian Anderson Addresses Kissing ‘X-Files’ Costar David Duchovny Before Boyfriend at 1997 Golden Globes

Avery Thompson August 2, 2024, 3:22 pm

Actress Gillian Anderson and actor David Duchovny attend the premiere of Fox's 'The X-Files' at California Science Center on January 12, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. — Angela Weiss / Getty Images

If you’re one of The X-Files fans who still thinks about Gillian Anderson kissing David Duchovny before her boyfriend when she won a Golden Globe, you’re not alone. Anderson answered fans who demanded to know the real story behind the famous 1997 lip lock between costars.

“The fact is that David and I were actually living together, and Rodney was my beard. I’m joking. That’s just a joke. Was that really mean?” she said in a TikTok video captioned, “You guys said you needed answers.”

you guys said you needed answers pic.twitter.com/5hAtQ0MKpr

— Gillian Anderson (@GillianA) August 2, 2024

After some humor, Anderson got down to business. “I don’t know why I kissed him first,” she explained. “I guess because, um, he was on the show with me, and we were practically married because we spent more time with each other than we did with our loved ones, and we were there to celebrate the series.”

She continued, “Maybe that’s what it was. I don’t know. Rodney was a great guy, don’t think it bothered him. He understood. It was complex. That’s all I got.”

Anderson won her first Primetime Emmy in 1997 for playing Dana Scully in The X-Files. She was seated next to then-boyfriend Rodney Rowland (whom she met on the show) when she was announced as the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series winner.

Play the 'X-Files' TV Crossword

Instead of kissing Rowland first, Anderson leaned back and kissed Duchovny, who played Fox Mulder on The X-Files, first. She then kissed Rowland before accepting the award.

Mulder and Scully had a dramatic will-they-won’t-they dynamic before finally getting together romantically on the show. Many fans hoped that Anderson and Duchovny would follow in their characters’ footsteps.

The Crown alum put any and all offscreen romantic speculation to bed in an April 2024 interview. “People have always been interested in David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson getting together personally, privately, intimately, as they were interested in Mulder and Scully getting it together intimately. And not going to happen,” she told WIRED.