Sir Patrick Stewart, best known for his roles as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, has responded to a Guardian newspaper columnist mistakenly reporting he is gay in the funniest of ways.

Guardian writer Jane Czyzselska had written a column on actress Ellen Page’s decision to come out and noted Stewart had tweeted his support for Page – but then mistakenly assumed this meant that Stewart was gay himself despite the fact that he has been married to women three times.

Stewart had tweeted to Page ‘“@EllenPage: Thank you @HRC and everyone for all the love and support. X” And I’ll chime in with mine,’ after she responded to fans welcoming her decision to come out.

Czyzselska wrote in her column ‘Three cheers for Ellen Page – but coming out should not be such big news,’ that ‘some gay people, such as Sir Patrick Stewart, think Page’s coming out speech is newsworthy because a high-profile and surprisingly politically aware young actress has decided not to play by the rules that so many closeted Hollywood actors are advised to follow if they are to enjoy mainstream success.’

The column was soon corrected but not before Stewart had noticed it – tweeting, ‘Well, @guardian it makes for a nice change…at least I didn’t wake up to the internet telling me I was dead again..’

He also tweeted, ‘But @guardian I have, like, five or even SEVEN hetero friends and we totally drink beer and eat lots of chicken wings!’

Stewart was famously married to third wife and jazz musician Sunny Ozell in September of last year by long time friend Sir Ian McKellen – one of the most prominent openly gay actors in film today.

Stewart has taken on gay acting roles in the past – appearing in a supporting role in the 1995 film Jeffrey and was named PFLAG’s Straight Ally of the Year last year.

Original Star Trek actor William Shatner also joined in on the joke – tweeting at Stewart, ‘@SirPatStew @guardian I never get that kind of coverage! I’m jealous! ;-)’

Stewart is currently one of the voice actors on Seth McFarlane’s animated comedy series American Dad among other projects.