Gillian Anderson has revealed that her role as a therapist on Netflix’s Sex Education made her realise she has no shame around intercourse.
The 56-year-old actor plays Jean Milburn, a sex therapist on the popular Netflix show, and has subsequently published Want, a book of confessions by women divulging their most intimate fantasies. The success of the book, which also includes one of Anderson’s own, has prompted a sequel.
But Anderson said that it was her role in Sex Education that made her realise how uninhibited she is personally around the topic.
“In playing Jean, having [sex] become a regular topic, I realised that I didn’t have shame around it,” Anderson told The Times.
“Also, I suddenly realised the degree to which there still was so much shame around it and the degree to which the show helped many demographics blast through some of that.”
She added: “In 2025 some of us seem to struggle to have that conversation with our partners. The conversation about ‘I prefer it like this’ or ‘Can we take ten more minutes so I can actually get more pleasure out of this exchange?’
“Some of it is the fear that the partner might feel judged that they’re doing something wrong when actually that’s not what you’re saying.”
Anderson also shared her thoughts on open marriages.
“I am amazed that I know two or three couples that have tried [open relationships], with varying results,” she explained. “I’m all for breaking the rules, but it is a delicate thing and it can go sideways. At the same time, it can add levels of contentment and joy, and everyone can get their needs met. So I have no judgment about it.”
The actor is set to star in the forthcoming film The Salt Path, adapted from the bestselling book by Raynor Winn.
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The true story follows Winn and her husband as they embark on a 630-mile hike across the coast of the UK after the author’s husband is diagnosed with a terminal brain disease. The journey on the South West Coast Path from Minehead in Somerset to Poole in Dorset is documented in the memoir, which has now been adapted into a movie directed by Marianne Elliott.
During the film, Anderson shot a scene with her onscreen husband Jason Isaacs, where the couple are having sex in a tent.
“Well, sex in the back of a car, sex anywhere, I mean, yeah, why not?” Anderson said. “Uncomfortable, tight quarters, but needs must.”
