Gillian Anderson: ‘The Greatest Misconception Is That A Woman Over 50 Just Shouldn’t Bother’

When she is not walking red carpets and fronting beauty campaigns as L’Oréal Paris’s newest global ambassador, Gillian Anderson assures me she is ‘very basic’. I find this hard to believe. We are sitting in a sun-drenched suite at Claridge's and she’s 50 shades of gold – gleaming hair, glowing skin, silk shirt. Aptly, we’re just across the road from Gabriela Hearst’s London flagship store, the designer behind the ivory gown with which Anderson made headlines at last year’s Golden Globe Awards (one of her famously un-basic moments). It was embroidered hem to neck-line with vulvas. Basic, seriously? ‘No really, I’m talking topknot, flip-flops, no make-up and I’ll wear the same sweater day after day.’

You get the feeling this comfort, this lack of glitz is something Anderson revels in. She lives in London (her favourite city) and has three children, Piper, 30, Oscar, 18, and Felix, 17. Her idea of real respite involves hunker-ing down and forgetting about her phone. ‘It’s getting away from screens, getting out of my head – often picking up a good book or listening to a new podcast.’ Her latest find? ‘My daughter turned me on to a great one yesterday, The Telepathy Tapes.’ And she savours moments of self-care, making a ritual of her everyday skincare routine, booking in for facials. ‘Great luminous skin is as arrest- ing as a full makeover,’ she says. ‘When we spend time and thought and resources on ourselves, it enhances the belief that we are worth it, worth the time, attention and effort, it’s meaningful and important.’ It’s her own spin on L’Oréal’s iconic tagline.

Anderson has devoted a large portion of her nearly 40-year career flying the flag for the formidable female. Whether inspiring the online mantra ‘What would Stella do?’ as Stella Gibson in The Fall, winning a Primetime Emmy Award for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Crown or playing Sex Education’s deliciously outrageous Jean Milburn, many of Anderson’s most memorable roles are so deeply rooted in authority that you assume she’s brimming with the very same mettle. For a long time, though, the opposite was true. ‘So much self-doubt!’ she exclaims. ‘About myself as an actress, about my looks and my weight, about my intelligence.’

Image credit: @cassblackbird

Anderson’s biggest crisis of confidence struck in 1993 when she landed her first major TV role, that of FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in The X-Files. She did so despite studio objections (series creator Chris Carter had to fight for her). ‘I was cast in my twenties, I was playing a young woman at the top of her field in what was suddenly this huge TV show and I spent every day convinced I was about to be fired,’ she explains. ‘I didn’t think I could live up to the powerful character I was portraying, but I showed up every day, I did it and eventually something clicked.’ The angst gradually abated. ‘Honestly, part of it is acting like you don’t doubt yourself until you start to believe it.’

Anderson finds she worries less with age and, at 56, she’s more motivated than ever. She spent the latter half of 2024 promoting her book, Want, a bubble-gum-pink-jacketed collection of anonymous fantasies contributed to by women around the world – a 21st century answer to Nancy Friday’s 1973 anthology My Secret Garden. And then there’s G Spot, the soft-drinks brand she devised during the pandemic after realising she was having too many fizzy, caffeinated beverages. Made with plant-based adaptogens and nootropics to manage stress and boost brain function, they’re the wellness devotee’s answer to Red Bull. ‘The greatest misconception is that a woman over 50 just shouldn’t bother. Bother to start dating, bother to start a business, bother to pursue dreams.’ Anderson’s a walking protest sign when it comes to that narrative.

So what’s next? ‘I want to keep doing everything I’ve always done, but have more fun doing it!’ We’ll clink G Spot cans to that.

Shop: Inside Gillian’s Bathroom Cabinet

Main credit: @cassblackbird

Annie Vischer is beauty director at Grazia. Annie was previously beauty editor across a number of lifestyle titles at TI Media (now Future Plc) including Woman & Home magazine and Feel Good You. Annie has over a decade-worth of experience as a beauty journalist under her belt and is an established authority in the beauty industry, known for covering skincare, make-up, hair care, body care, treatments and wellness in print, online and across social media