Billy Dee Williams, most well-known for his role as Lando Calrissian in the original “Star Wars” trilogy, has clarified previous comments in which he described himself as gender fluid, as Fox News reports.
In a previous interview with Esquire, Williams said “I think of myself as a relatively colorful character who doesn’t take himself or herself too seriously. You see, I say ‘himself’ and ‘herself’ because I also see myself as feminine as well as masculine.”
But in a later interview with The Undefeated, Williams asked “What the hell is gender fluid? That’s a whole new term. But what I was talking about was men getting in touch with the softer side of themselves.” Williams then went on to describe the work of psychiatrist Carl Jung, a contemporary of Sigmund Freud, who coined the phrase “anima animus,” which Williams says means “the female counterpart of the male self” (anima) and the “male counterpart of the female” (animus).
Williams concluded that this is to what he was referring, and that he “was talking about men getting in touch with the female side of themselves,” rather than “talking about sex,” or “talking about being gay or straight.”
Williams is set to reprise his role as Calrissian in the upcoming final installment in the critically-panned “Star Wars” sequel trilogy, “Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker,” set to be released on December 20th.