Billy Dee Williams, best known for his role as Lando Calrissian within the ‘Star Wars’ franchise, is addressing the rumors of him being a part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
The 86-year-old actor spent nearly 80 years each on screen and on stage, but he also spent most of his life in the humanities industry, even starting life as a painter.
Now, for the primary time, the ‘Star Wars’ actor is letting down his partitions fully as he’s opening up about his decades-long profession in his memoir, ‘What Have We Here?’
Did Billy Dee Williams Attended Secret Gay Parties?!
When promoting his latest memoir, Williams addressed those rumors that he was a part of the LGBTQIA+ community, which many said could have ruined his profession.
The actor says he was at all times comfortable hanging out with members of the LGBTQIA+ community — and admitted to attending secret gay parties within the Metropolitan Opera’s basement.
“All of it seemed very normal to me,” he shared of that point in his life. “I used to be around all of it of my life, so I never really gave it much thought.”
When promoting his book, he spoke of those rumors, claiming they never bothered him. “I’ve been called a ‘Closet Queen,” he told Page Six, adding, “But, I don’t pay much attention to any of that.”
This comes just a few years after Williams, who was the primary Black character within the ‘Star Wars’ universe, referred to himself as a “colourful” person.
“I believe of myself as a comparatively colourful character who doesn’t take himself or herself too seriously,” he told Esquire on the time, adding, “and also you see I say ‘himself’ and ‘herself,’ because I also see myself as feminine in addition to masculine.”
LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign then took to social media to congratulate Williams for “coming out and living your truth as gender fluid.”
Nonetheless, the ‘Star Wars’ actor later clarified his comments, claiming that he was actually talking about “men getting in contact with their softer side of themselves.”
“There’s a phrase that was coined by Carl G. Jung, who was a psychiatrist, who was a recent of Sigmund Freud, and so they had a splitting of the ways because they’d different ideas in regards to the…what do you call it? Consciousness. Unconscious. It’s collective unconsciousness,” he told The Undefeated.
Billy Dee Williams Says He ‘Identifies As A Man’
“But he coined a phrase that’s, ‘Anima animus.’ And anima implies that is the feminine counterpart of the male self, and the animus is the male counterpart of the feminine,” Williams continued. “
He then clarified, “So, that’s what I used to be referring to. I used to be talking about men getting in contact with the feminine side of themselves. I wasn’t talking about s-x, I wasn’t talking about being gay or straight. People should read [Jung]. I mean, it could be an interesting education for a variety of people.”
He then said“he identifies as a person” and that he’s “not gay.”
Billy Dee Williams’s latest memoir, ‘What Have We Here?’ is out now.
