‘Star Wars’ actor Billy Dee Williams insists he was never bothered by rumours he was gay.
‘Star Wars’ actor Billy Dee Williams insists he was never bothered by rumours he was gay
The 86-year-old shot to fame playing Lando Calrissian in the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy and was at the centre of talk during the 1970s he was a “closet” homosexual.
He told Page Six: “I’ve been called a ‘Closet Queen.’ But, I don’t pay much attention to any of that.”
His comments come after he released his memoir ‘What Have We Here?’ which includes stories of how he found fame to meeting stars including Marlon Brando, Laurence Olivier and Angela Lansbury.
He says in his book he was always comfortable hanging out with members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and would attended secret gay parties in the Metropolitan Opera’s basement when he was an extra.
Billy added: “It all seemed very normal to me. I was around it all of my life, so I never really gave it much thought.”
The three-times married actor also recalls in his book a conversation he had with his daughter about embracing the feminine side, after he heard about psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s theory of anima and animus – which states anima is the unconscious feminine side to men, and animus the masculine side in women.
He added: “I told my daughter about it. I was talking about why men should get more in touch with the female side of themselves and then my daughter told me – the first time I ever heard the phrase – gender fluid.
“My daughter was very happy to think that I was gender fluid!”
Billy also admitted he finds the current wars over gender “really amusing, to say the least”.
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