“The X-Files” is widely considered to be one of the top TV series of all time, but the show’s star said the intense fame and recognition came at an uncomfortable price.

Appearing Monday on the “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast, actor Gillian Anderson, who portrayed FBI agent Dana Scully, opened up about why she hated the overwhelming fame that her breakout role sparked.

“I mean, I think we were very lucky that we were shooting up in Vancouver for the first five years because, you know, when we were in L.A., you know, we had the experience that a lot of celebrities did at that time — which is followed everywhere and chased down the street and photographed with the kids in playgrounds and all that kind of stuff, which I found disturbing and it really angered me,” she said. “I pointed my car at many paparazzi over the years.”

The moody, sci-fi series was primarily shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, from 1993–1998. The show later returned to Vancouver to shoot 2008’s “The X-Files: I Want to Believe,” and its revival seasons, 10 and 11, from 2016 to 2018.

“So being up there and not having that — it just didn’t exist up in Vancouver — was very freeing. And also, it just felt like it was separate from the business. And I think that kept us a little saner than we might have gone,” Anderson said.

Anderson’s co-star, David Duchovny, who played FBI agent Fox Mulder on the show, once shared his pet peeve: character inconsistencies made by the show’s episodic directors.

“Sometimes the directors would come on, and they’d know they had a great script and [since] this was on ‘The X-Files,’ this could happen, you know? Like, ‘Holy shit, this is a great script,’ and they really wanted to kill it. Those guys were dangerous,” Duchovny said on his “Fail Better” podcast in July 2025. “So often they would say, ‘We’ve never seen Mulder like this before,’ and I’d say, ‘Yeah, like 10 other times we’ve seen Mulder like this before.’”

Watch Anderson’s appearance on “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” below. Skip to the 17:37 mark to hear her comments:

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