'Star Wars' star Billy Dee Williams tries to clarify gender comments, says he doesn't understand gender fluidity
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Billy Dee Williams, best known for playing Lando Calrissian in the "Star Wars" franchise, is not nonbinary, as young folks on the Internet may have hoped, and the star, 82, said he doesn’t even know the meaning of gender fluidity.
In a recent interview with Esquire, Williams allegedly opened up about his gender identity, and he discussed his masculine and feminine sides.
“I never tried to be anything except myself," Williams said. "I think of myself as a relatively colorful character who doesn’t take himself or herself too seriously.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"You see, I say ‘himself’ and ‘herself,’ because I also see myself as feminine as well as masculine," he continued. "I’m a very soft person. I’m not afraid to show that side of myself.”
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Billy Dee Williams, best known for playing Lando Calrissian in the "Star Wars" franchise, is not nonbinary, as young folks on the Internet may have hoped, and the star, 82, doesn’t even know the meaning of gender fluidity. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
However, in a later interview with Undefeated, he clarified his comments.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Well, first of all, I asked last night. I said, 'What the hell is gender fluid?’ That’s a whole new term," Williams said. "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, who was a contemporary of Sigmund Freud, and they had a splitting of the ways because they had different ideas about the … what do you call it? Consciousness. Unconscious. It’s collective unconsciousness," he continued.
"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. So that's what I was referring to," he added.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The clarification shed light on the fact that Williams confused gender fluidity with sexual fluidity.
"I was talking about men getting in touch with the female side of themselves. I wasn’t talking about sex, I wasn’t talking about being gay or straight," he said in his latest interview. "People should read [Jung]. I mean, it would be an interesting education for a lot of people."
The Emmy nominee is also known for his paintings, some of which can still be seen at galleries around the country, and his album of jazz standards, "Let's Misbehave."
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"The Rise of Skywalker" will hit theaters on Dec. 20.