Actor Billy Dee Williams caught wind of reports about him being “gender-fluid” and made it clear that his words were misunderstood. In fact, he doesn’t even know what the term means.
In an interview with The Undefeated, the 82-year-old addressed the assumption after his interview with Esquire where he revealed his usage of the pronouns “himself” and “herself” when identifying his self.
“Well, first of all, I asked last night. I said, ‘What the hell is gender-fluid?’ That’s a whole new term,” Williams told The Undefeated. “But what I was talking about was about men getting in touch with their softer side of themselves. There’s a phrase that was coined by Carl G. Jung, who was a psychiatrist…But he coined a phrase that’s, ‘Anima animus.’ And anima means that is the female counterpart of the male self, and the animus is the male counterpart of the female.”
The Star Wars actor went on to explain that he embraces the feminine and masculine sides of himself and was not describing his gender identity and sexual orientation. “I wasn’t talking about sex, I wasn’t talking about being gay or straight. People should read [Jung]. I mean, it would be an interesting education for a lot of people.”
When asked if he’s gay, the actor candidly responded, “No, no, no, I’m not gay — by any stretch of the imagination. Not that I have anything against gay people. But personally? Not gay.”
Aside from identifying as “a very cute man,” Williams shared how he landed the Star Wars role as Lando Calrissian and what franchise fans can expect from the upcoming installment, The Rise of Skywalker. “I just hope people will like it. I don’t even hope. I know that people are really going to enjoy it.”
