Years after speaking out about having a relationship with a woman, actress Gillian Anderson has said she thought she owed it to her to not keep their relationship a secret.

The former X-Files actress told Even magazine that before revealing that she had been in a same-sex relationship with a woman who later died of a brain tumour, she had rarely spoken about it. Anderson said she was grateful because the woman had been offered money to sell a photo of them, but chose not to.

Anderson said of revealing the relationship: “She had died of a brain tumour a year earlier and I had never really spoken about her.

“She was a beautiful person who was very meaningful in my life and I wanted to honour her instead of hiding my experience.

“There was a point years after we split when she phoned to tell me to say she had been offered a large amount of money to sell a photograph of us together and had chosen not to do it.”

She added: “It was a very big decision because she really could have used the money.

“I felt it was very important to take the onus off that type of relationship, to say this happened and I feel no shame about it.”

Back in 2012, Anderson told Out Magazine: “I was in a relationship with a girl for a long time when I was in high school.

“You know, I’m old enough that I can talk about that… If I had thought I was 100% gay, would it have been a difference experience for me?”

“Would it have been a bigger deal if shame had been attached to it and all those things that become huge life-altering issues for youngsters in that situation?”

“It’s possible that my attitude around it came, on some level, from knowing that I still liked boys.”