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DD and GA's Friendship: the Tense Times (a Brief History)

Sections: 1993 THROUGH 2002, REWIND: MAY 1997, AFTERSHOCKS, and 2003 TO PRESENT

A collection of quotes discussing the turbulent years.

Note: this retrospective doesn't highlight the multiple interviews wherein both complimented and expressed understanding for each other (namely because later David and Gillian didn't speak often of those moments, either.) Rest assured, they exist.

TL;DR: November 1994: Neil in Victoria (11 years old) asks if GA & David Duchovny are good friends off the screen?

GA: "It's a lot of work to work with someone as intensely as we do on a daily basis. Our relationship shifts and changes, and on the weekends we don't hang out because we're sick of seeing each other all week!"

April 1997: Refreshed and read for the fourth season, David, cast and crew go to work. "We get along," David says with a natural ease. "But we have our moments, of course. I think sometimes we all just show up and go... 'I'd rather be anywhere else but here and I'm going to make you suffer for it.' But then other times, I'll look at Gillian (co-star Gillian Anderson, who plays FBI agents, Dr. Dana Scully) and I'll think she's the only one that really knows what I'm going through, and vice versa. So there's a real bond there. We're all just trying to make it the best show we can make it. If we keep that common goal in mind, we can forgive a lot."

January 22, 2015: “I don’t knoooow if I handled it gracefully,” she says between self-deprecating laughter (her infectiously goofy laugh has its own special place in X-Files history as a notorious instigator of crew-wide giggle fits). “I just remember yelling at people a few times, which I don’t normally do. It was pretty stressful back then. The pressure was humongous for the show. It wasn’t popular yet, it was costing a lot of money, we were shooting ridiculous hours. Twenty-four episodes [a season] and there was barely enough time to change clothes before having to get back to set to say another six paragraphs of medical jargon. It was a lot.”

1993 THROUGH 2002: SINK OR SWIM

November 1994: Neil in Victoria (11 years old) asks if GA & David Duchovny are good friends off the screen?

GA: "It's a lot of work to work with someone as intensely as we do on a daily basis. Our relationship shifts and changes, and on the weekends we don't hang out because we're sick of seeing each other all week!"

May 16, 1996: Q: Have you and David made a lot of public appearances together?

GA: We did at the beginning. Then the object was to individualize us a bit.

Q: Oh, so you are two different people?

GA: We are!

April 1997: Refreshed and read for the fourth season, David, cast and crew go to work. "We get along," David says with a natural ease. "But we have our moments, of course. I think sometimes we all just show up and go... 'I'd rather be anywhere else but here and I'm going to make you suffer for it.' But then other times, I'll look at Gillian (co-star Gillian Anderson, who plays FBI agents, Dr. Dana Scully) and I'll think she's the only one that really knows what I'm going through, and vice versa. So there's a real bond there. We're all just trying to make it the best show we can make it. If we keep that common goal in mind, we can forgive a lot."

**Note: May 1997: David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson: "Best of Acquaintances" was moved into its own section, see further below.**

December-January 1997: "I have a feeling David and I will be much closer after the series is done and we don't have to be with each other daily," Anderson observes. "We can come back together for a second feature four or so years from now. As much as I will feel a huge weight off my shoulders when the series is done, it's gonna be bittersweet. I'm sure all those wonderful moments that David and I have shared together will come to mind and I'll be reminiscing about it for years."

January 1998: Stories about her alleged affairs with a whole string of men, including her X-Files co-star David Duchovny, break almost every week. They must have been difficult to read about, whether true or not?

"Er, I haven't actually read those stories. Are they recent?"

You never saw them?

"No, were there pictures? They were probably based on that infamous Rolling Stone cover."

Gillian appears to take the world's obsession with the two Paranormal investigators in her stride. But doesn't she ever feel stifled by ScuIIy?

"No not really, because I know what the truth is. It's the same thing with the manipulation of photos on the internet, putting my head on other people's bodies... these things only really hurt if they're true or if there's a degree of truth in them. The times when it hurts are when it gets spiteful. You know I read in a local paper recently that I had had David's wife banned from the set of the show. That's unfortunate, but I know what the truth is and they do too. But it's not nice to go around with people believing that you're capable of being mean in that way, because that's not who I am..."

But living a public life has taken its toll. With everyone suddenly interested in her, it's suddenly hard to trust people's motives. Entering into new romantic relationships is particularly hard.

"The thing is that I can't do things lightly. I can't be in public with any male person, who is a friend, without it being assumed that we are lovers. If you believed the tabloids, I'd be seeing a different guy every week!"

That isn't true?

"No! Sometimes it's funny, with a different guy being added to the list of people I'm 'seeing' every week - and after a year there are 50 people on list. I don't think I'd have time for 50 lovers in a year!"

June 14, 1998: The relationship Anderson is most cautious in talking about is that with her X-Files co-star. "David and my relationship switches as much as Scully and Fox's does. Sometimes it's better than at other times.

"We're not close. Once in a while we find ourselves in intimate conversation, but we don't seek each other out. We don't visit each other's trailers or see each other on weekends."

September 1998: Q: When you've read articles about the show, have you learned things about how Duchovny feels about you?

GA: I have, but I'm pretty intuitive about that stuff, anyway. I'm highly attuned to... well, to too much. Once I was surprised by something he said. He gave a description of our relationship that was particularly cold, and I was quoted in the article as saying that.

Q: If you could have more of one quality that he has in abundance, what would it be?

GA: That level of intelligence. I wish I had more facts in my head. When I was in school, I didn't really pay much attention. That's the one thing in my life I regret: daydreaming. I needed to do it; it was a survival mechanism for me. [...]

Q: Lucky me. Now in turn, what do you have in abundance that you would want to give to David?

GA: I know what the answer is, but that leads to a tricky...How to put it? Oh, f-k...Patience. That's about as good as I can do without...

Q: Without what?

GA: Making him angry. (Big laugh) Without saying something I might regret.

Q: You're cagey.

GA: F-k, yes. These interviews are tricky, you have to be really careful. I can't talk abut details of the movie; it's not appropriate for me to talk about my divorce or recent relationships; and there's not really much about my adolescence or early adulthood that I feel comfortable talking about.

Q: So, if you hurt David's feelings, then you apologise. Big deal.

GA: Yes, but if there's something that I have trouble with - about his behaviour, let's say - it's something I need to deal with between the two of us, not expressed through the press.

So you have had a chat about, let's say, your difficulty with his impatience?

March 26, 2000: Anderson: Here's one for you. How do you perceive our relationship Duchovny: It's like the roots of a tree. It's very twisted, but it's growing. You know the tree is alive, and it works in its own treelike way, yet you couldn't untangle it. You could, but you'd need the help of a gifted professional.

Anderson: [roaring with laughter] Like a therapist? Duchovny: Yeah. I always think back to the third or fourth episode. I was sitting in the office with ["X-Files" creator] Chris Carter, and he actually wanted us to get help. He was concerned with how we were relating onscreen. He said, "You seem bored or angry with each other. Maybe you should go see somebody." I thought, "What? We'll go as the characters? 'Hi, my name is Fox Mulder. This is my partner, Scully. We're here for couples therapy.'"

Anderson: I have no memory of that. Duchovny: You might not have been in the room. But maybe we should have therapy for long-running series actors. It'd be good for the cast of "Friends" to have group therapy. We'd have couples therapy, because we're not an ensemble. Actually, when Chris said that, I thought he was insane. But we do spend so much time together, and it's a hard relationship to navigate. As soon as I say, "No, we don't see each other after work," then it's "You hate each other." There seems to be no room in fans' minds -- as the fans are portrayed through journalists -- for a complicated relationship between us. It can't be summed up with "I love her. She's the best!" or "I can't stand her!"

REWIND: MAY 1997, BEST OF ACQUAINTANCES

May 1997: When David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson finally sit down together for an interview, it is politely, like family members who come together a few times a year purely out of obligation but who nonetheless recognize each other's importance in their lives....

Duchovny has talked Anderson into the two-for-one interrogation, but now that the time has come, he is slightly more impatient, answering tersely and waiting for the next scene to be completed, because then he will be done for the day. "I'm sorry," he says before we start, "but the second we finish filming, I'm not staying a minute longer." For her part, Anderson seems content to speak at length, if only to ensure that the story is told correctly.

They are not similar people, Anderson and Duchovny, but they are forced together in a coupling that the public views as idyllic, and because of this there is an oddly conspiratorial feel to their interaction. "It's a difficult relationship because it's like an arranged marriage," Duchovny says. "We didn't choose to be together." When the first question is asked – "How has your personal dynamic changed over the course fo four seasons?" – they look at each other as if to make sure they're on the same page, and Duchovny begins speaking.

"It changes all the time, right?" [Anderson nods in agreement.]

Duchovny: It's not that it used to be one thing and it's another thing now. It's cyclic.

Q: Are you in an up cycle at the moment? Anderson: Today, yes. Duchovny: Or else we wouldn't be here.

Q: Is it really that day-to-day? Duchovny: It's like any relationship, only intensified, because we can't take a break. I can't say, "I'm going for a walk." [Anderson laughs.]

Q: There's a feeling that fans want you to be great friends off the set. Duchovny: Or to be fighting.

Q: What's the reality? Duchovny: We've never socialized. Since the pilot, we've not gone out even once.

Q: Why is that? Anderson: Soon after we started, I got married and had a baby. On top of that, after working so closely during the week, the days off are time to spend with other people. [...]

Q: Why don't each of you say what strengths the other brings to the show. Anderson: This is like a therapy session. Duchovny: I think there should be a therapist that works only with television ensembles. Like Dr. Katz, TV therapist, sitting down with the cast of Friends. [Anderson laughs.] Duchovny: OK, I'll start. At this point you can't imagine anybody else playing that part. There's not just one thing she does. She's made it her own part. So, there's nobody else to do it. She brings whatever her talents as an actress are.

Q: What about David? Anderson: One thing I don't think people realize is a lot of the humor in the character of Mulder is not only heightened by David but a lot of times he will add his own lines. A lot of Mulder's dry sense of humor comes more out of David than anything the writers can conjure up. Duchovny: So, what we've come away with is, I'm just f -ing like my character, and Gillian is a wonderful actress. Anderson: [Laughs] That's not what I meant.

Q: Do you turn to each other for career advice? Anderson: There have been defining moments over the past four years where we have, not necessarily for career advice, but when we have both been there for each other for support.

Q: Examples? We love examples. Anderson: Well, I won't give any. Duchovny: When my goldfish died. Anderson: But most of the time, we have our own separate support systems and deal with things in our own way. Duchovny: I guess the only thing we'd talk about now is when we want to do the X-Files movie. I think we both want to do it as soon as possible so we can get it over with. [Anderson looks genuinely startled.] Duchovny: Oh. [Pause] I don't know if you do. Anderson: Have we talked about it? Duchovny: We did a little bit early in the year. [...]

Duchovny stands. There has been a call from the director, and the two stars glance at each other as if they are pleased to have survived something together They walk out, one after the other; and a few minutes later, as the scene starts and the camera rolls, Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny immediately morph into Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, the partners considered to be one of television's most romantic duos. It is a feat of incredible closeness, considering the two characters have never even kissed and, stranger still, considering how naturally it happens once the camera rolls.

As Kim Manners explains it: "They're totally different human beings, but they can just look at each other and know exactly where they're going in a scene." He stops for a moment before continuing: "It's weird. David and Gillian are best of acquaintances; Scully and Mulder are best friends."

AFTERSHOCKS

March 20, 2003: [David Duchovny] says, "It is not like we do not get on. We are somehow joined, at some significant level, for ever, for as long as we are alive, not just in the public's mind but our own. To have worked so long together at that intensity, to have gone through so many huge changes in our personal, professional and public lives, means that we have a very deep bond. We have never had a friendship of like minds, but we are soulmates in some senses. I love her and I think she loves me, but we do not have a huge interest in each other as people outside of this work connection."

May 7, 2006: 'You know, early twenties, all the emotions, and I had a baby, and then a divorce, and I was on a brand-new series that was doing well, and all the publicity surrounding that, all the nonsense about David and I, and there were times when it was unbearable.' Hastily, humbly, [Anderson] adds, 'And yet, I was so fortunate to be a part of something that was so exceptional. We did have fun.'

2007 TO PRESENT: A MATURE FRIENDSHIP

April 16, 2008: Shock: What’s that like with David now that you’re not with each other 16 hours a day on a series?

Anderson: It’s great, but it was great then, too. This is like a sibling relationship and I never had siblings. I had brothers and sisters that started when I was 13, so I was out of the house and didn’t have that experience. There was always this love/hate – hate is too big of a word – but there was always something. It was a natural relationship over a period of time. Now we’ve grown up and we’re older, we’re more appreciative of the relationship period and the unique experience we had together and have an opportunity to continue that and foster it. We’ve always loved each other and we’re always going to be a battle sometimes.

July 22, 2008: Duchovny: I wouldn’t characterize me as the one who really wanted to get it going, but I’m certainly someone who would always say yes whenever Chris and I would talk about it. The love/hate has nothing to do with the actual content, the actual people, the actual anything. The love/hate had to do with me wanting to get on with the rest of my life, the rest of my career and when you think about it, that I did eight years and Gillian did nine, that’s a lifetime. There are no other dramas that keep the same characters that run that long. If you look at ‘Law & Order’ or ‘ER’, they’re twenty years old or whatever they are, but they’re completely recast. So it’s just not something you see. You don’t see actors not get fatigued and not get frustrated in a drama where we’re working, cell phones or not, everyday for many, many hours playing the same characters. So it’s just natural to burnout. There was always love for the show and love for the character. There was never any hate for that.

Anderson: But it’s interesting that it’s always something for the press to latch onto. It’s always a surprise, in some way or it’s a good headline, that someone wants to leave. It creates good drama and so it always becomes this thing, where actually it’s just a natural thing.

Duchovny: Right, like you’re ungrateful in some way. Yes, I love ‘The X-Files’ and I love Vancouver. Those things are true.

July (29?) 2008: DD: No, uh, there was something, you know, even that kind of brought us together. And then when we were doing the show, it just, you know, no matter what kind of troubles we had as people off the show, or with one another off the show, it, it just never affected that [chemistry.] So, time doesn't affect it, either. It's like nothing affects it. It's weird.

Q: And Gillian, you feel the same way, or...?

GA: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there, there have been times, you know, when we were in the, in the, in the midst of shooting the series where we were exhausted and fed up with ourselves, with each other--

DD: We didn't talk to one another.

GA: We didn't talk to-- and yet, we could do these scenes where--

DD: The only time we talked to one another was as Mulder and Scully-- [GA: Yeah.] --for, you know, weeks at a time.

GA: And yet the chemistry was there; and we were, you know.... There was one time actually when somebody called me and said, and said, "You guys are really angry." [Both laugh.]

DD: But the weird thing is, like, even the anger, uh, reads as-- [GA: Yeah.] --kind of, you know, interest.

Q: Well, it played the scenes well-- [DD: Yeah.] --where there was tension or whatever. It played well. [GA: Yeah.]

DD: Anger looks like love on film, actually. [GA: Smiles, amused.]

Q: Absolutely.

GA: And in real life sometimes.

DD: Yeah. [Makes a face of exaggerated anger.]

August 1, 2008: Q: After working so closely together for eight years you must have been sick of the sight of each other.

DD: Absolutely. Familiarity breeds contempt. It’s nothing to do with the other person. All that fades away and you’re just left with the appreciation and love for the people you’ve worked with for so long. We used to argue about nothing. We couldn’t stand the sight of each other.

August 2, 2009: The actor - who reprises his role as Fox Mulder alongside Gillian's Dana Scully in new movie 'The X-Files: I Want To Believe' - admits he'd "had enough" of Gillian by the time the original 'X-Files' TV show finished in 2002, but was thrilled to return to the character after a six-year break.

He said: "Gillian and I are not as close as Mulder and Scully but who could be? Nobody is as close as Mulder and Scully. But we worked together for so long that by the time the series ended we had enough of each other.

"But six years having passed, it's like, I don't make jam, but I'm assuming you pour away the boiling liquid so after six years the liquid is all boiled off and all that remains is the jam of appreciation."

October 16, 2013: "I think we've become more friendly as time has gone by," Ms. Anderson said. "We went through something quite profound together and there's only one other person—"

"Traumatizing," Mr. Duchovny interjected. "We were traumatized."

"Traumatized. OK, that's the word—traumatized," she said. "And there's only one other person who has had that experience, which is me, and I don't think we've ever really fully had that conversation yet."

"You want to have it right now?" Mr. Duchovny asked.

Despite a reporter's encouragement, they politely declined. (Bonus: DD and GA Talk About Their X-Files Trauma)

October 20, 2014 (source: HappySadConfused): Q: Was there a sense of almost a bunker mentality where you were at least going through this process with David? You mentioned he had more experience, he had done some bigger films but still the phenomenon that emerged within the first couple years was pretty remarkable. Did it help to have him there too and kind of like “Are you getting this too? Are you going through this too? Is this weird?”

GA: No. No, not really. We talk about the fact that it’s crazy that we didn’t. And that we didn’t take advantage of the fact that we had each other but it was complicated. These were long hours that we were working. We spent more time in each other’s presence than we did with our, you know, spouses and children, etc.

But also, you know, I think we p-ssed each other off, quite frankly. And I have no doubt that after they’re waiting – we’re gonna roll and somebody has to come in and redo my lips and the difference between the maintenance for guys and gals and we’re shooting in all weather – you know, we never shut down except for one day for weather in the entire show. We were shooting up in Vancouver through rain, sleet, everything. And my hair would frizz up to here in between takes and they’d have to get the blow dryer out under the tent and we’d be waiting for Gillian’s hair to do another take. You know, that p-sses you right off. It adds up. So I, you know, I’m sure there were plenty of things he did that p-ssed me off too. It just wasn’t, you know, but on the other hand.. NOW, we get to talk about that and we’re probably closer than we’ve ever been.

December 28, 2015: “We’re probably closer today than we’ve ever been,” Anderson told me. Whatever happens with the new series, The X-Files is a fixture in the pop-culture firmament, and she and Duchovny now understand that, in her words, “it’s just the two of us that have had this particular unique experience.” In the past, she reflected, “I don’t think that was necessarily important enough an element to draw us together.” But they both have children, and their friendship has grown. “I think we’re old enough to realize,” she said, maybe a little coyly, “that there’s value in our staying onside and supporting each other.”

January 22, 2015: “I don’t knoooow if I handled it gracefully,” she says between self-deprecating laughter (her infectiously goofy laugh has its own special place in X-Files history as a notorious instigator of crew-wide giggle fits). “I just remember yelling at people a few times, which I don’t normally do. It was pretty stressful back then. The pressure was humongous for the show. It wasn’t popular yet, it was costing a lot of money, we were shooting ridiculous hours. Twenty-four episodes [a season] and there was barely enough time to change clothes before having to get back to set to say another six paragraphs of medical jargon. It was a lot.”

January 14, 2016: Mulder and Scully, Duchovny and Anderson, were and still are in many minds one of the most compelling on-screen partnerships. Rumors of rifts and romances abounded about their off-screen relationship, too, with little foundation. But Anderson isn’t concerned about a repeat of such gossip, despite acknowledging the chemistry between them. “People know we are good friends now and that we’ve found our way into an adult friendship."

January 19, 2016: Duchovny and Anderson weren’t always so easygoing on set, and they presented about as far from a united front as two co-leads could. “The crucible of doing that show made monsters out of both of us,” Duchovny admits, but says that reuniting on “I Want to Believe” changed things for the better. “Once we got to step back, it was like, ‘Oh, wow, we really like each other. I didn’t know that was going to happen.’

“The way we work together has changed,” he adds. “Whatever rapport we have as actors, we earned. It’s nice to be able to play that without ever even feeling like you’re playing it.”

Anderson agrees. “Our relationship has definitely become a proper friendship over the last few years. I think we’re more on each other’s side. We’re more aware of the other’s needs, wants, concerns, and mindful to take those into consideration— and just sharing more about our experiences in the moment, under the sudden realization that we’re both in this together, and wouldn’t it be nice if it were a collaboration?”

February 13, 2016: There's no doubt, however that the pair's closeness brought with it a degree of friction. [GA:] "I think the grind of working every single f--- day, 17 hours a day, with each other, in those circumstances, just took its toll. I think when we did the last film, we got closer, as time had passed and we'd, I don't know, matured, grown up, gotten a different perspective on life and work."

June 17, 2016: Anderson: David and I have solidified and intensified our friendship and our working relationship since the series ended, so it really is just going back and choosing to work with somebody, and feeling like we are doing something that only the two of us have the experience of. We’re there for each other, and enjoy that in and of itself. It was something I looked forward to with this series, and something I would potentially look forward to doing again. It’s a nice thing to have in one’s life.

Duchovny: I agree with that, and it’s going to sound really pedestrian, and not at all lofty, but when I think back to the beginnings of the show, and what I thought acting was—what I thought I could do as an actor—the gift this show gave me was having to go to work. Having to work as hard as we did, every day, for 14 hours a day, over 10 months, for five years in a row. That was a gift in that I took myself to school, and taught myself how to be an actor. For both Gillian and me, it was really sink or swim at that point, and to be able to do that with great material, and talented people helping us along… it could have gone in another direction, so I’m thankful, I think, just for the hard work that it was in the beginning, and the appreciation it gave me for what I do. It didn’t kill us, anyway.

June 8, 2025: The original runs of the show – from 1993-2002, 2016 and 2018 – were beset with what Duchovny and Anderson spent years euphemistically referring to as mutual “tension”. For long periods, the two were not “even dealing with one another off-camera”, as Duchovny revealed last year during a heartfelt conversation with Anderson on his Fail Better podcast, in which he admitted to a “failure of friendship” with his co-star. Was there something specifically combustible about their two personalities in combination?

“My memory would be faulty, you know? It’s like Rashomon,” says Duchovny, vaguely, alluding to Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 classic in which every eyewitness to a murder tells a contradictory version of events. “Just, I don’t recall.”

CONCLUSION

1997 David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson: "Best of Acquaintances"

The Vancouver Move: Gillian Anderson Welcomed the Change and The Vancouver Move: David Duchovny, FOX Studios, and the Rain

90s DD and GA’s Relationship: Others’ Thoughts

2000-2024: DD Reminding GA about CC’s “Couple’s Therapy” Suggestion

David Duchovny: IWTB Was Personally “Redemptive”

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, and the Paparazzi: Correcting the Record

DD and GA: on Assault from the Paparazzi

2008: DD and GA on Burnout and Opportunistic Headlines

2013 DD: "We Don't Live Together," the Explanation

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