SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
Each week, a guest draws a card from NPR's Wild Card deck and answers a big question about their life. Gillian Anderson is known for playing Agent Dana Scully of "The X-Files" and Margaret Thatcher in "The Crown." But Anderson's role playing Dr. Jean Milburn in "Sex Education" convinced her that she wanted to encourage women to talk about the fantasies they've kept secret.
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GILLIAN ANDERSON: Have I ever told anybody what's in my head? Like, have I actually confessed even to myself? And if I haven't talked to my partner of 15 years, 25 years about this, why?
PFEIFFER: Anderson's first book about women's desire called "Want" was a bestseller. Her follow-up is called "More." She spoke with Wild Card host Rachel Martin about how these anonymous stories opened her mind to desires that go far beyond a person's sex life.
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RACHEL MARTIN: What's an experience you wish you could give every person?
ANDERSON: I wish that I could give every person a day where they feel completely comfortable in themselves, in their bodies, in their skin, in their family structure, in their work structure, in their relationship, in their everything where everything - the relationship with their kids - where they feel completely confident, at peace, comfortable, not in fear, just for a day to know what that feels like.
MARTIN: Have you had that day?
ANDERSON: Well, I mean, I feel like that's - you know, that is the greatest privilege. You know, it feels like it's for the privileged. It's - you know what I mean?
MARTIN: Yeah.
ANDERSON: It's the rarest, rarest thing.
MARTIN: Yeah.
ANDERSON: And there is so much disparity and so much fear and so much that's wrong with our systems that don't work for the individuals and a sense of powerlessness and confusion and rage about - this is not how it's supposed to be. This is not how society is supposed to be and take care of itself. This is not what my relationship with my kids is supposed to be like. This is not what my work, this is not what my life is meant to be, you know? And very often, I think it feels like - it seems like it's only getting, you know, more complex and more enmeshed and more like we're moving backwards and more like it's - so many more people are struggling and trying to make ends meet.
MARTIN: Yeah.
ANDERSON: You know, and so how can you even begin to have a sense of self-care or...
MARTIN: Yeah. Yeah.
ANDERSON: ...Peace of mind or faith or...
MARTIN: Or to feel whole - to feel whole and enough. That's a nice wish.
PFEIFFER: You can watch Rachel Martin's full conversation with Gillian Anderson on YouTube by searching for NPR Wild Card. Her new book, "More," is out next Tuesday.
(SOUNDBITE OF MARK SNOW'S "MATERIA PRIMORIS: THE X-FILES THEME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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