Gillian Anderson believes therapy kept her alive.
The 46-year-old actress sought help from a counsellor when she was a teenager and says her experiences kept her "sane" and taught her the importance of working through problems.
She said: "[Therapy] kept me sane and alive. I seriously needed it. I’m not going to get into details… But I find that it’s important to work things through as much as possible. To not run, and to try as much as possible to develop healthy responses to things."
Three years ago, the former ‘X Files’ star was left devastated when her brother Aaron – who suffered from genetic disorder Neurofibromatosis – passed away and she says his death made her change her priorities.
She told the new issue of Red magazine: "[His death] had a profound effect on all of us. He was just extraordinary. He made it a lot easier for all of us… It did make me change priorities and realise life is short. And that it’s important to follow one’s heart, I think, and make the most out of the time we have."
And one way the actress has changed is in raising her family.
Gillian gave birth to her and then-husband Clyde Klotz’s daughter Piper in 1994 soon after starting on ‘The X Files’ and took very little maternity leave and lived "practically on set in a trailer with very little time off", but since having her sons Oscar, eight, and Felix, six, with former boyfriend Mark Griffiths, she makes sure their routine is incorporated into her work schedule.
She said: "I very deliberately make decisions about work. I’m quite adamant about it in terms of working out schedules, pre-agreeing 100% to do something, because there’s only so much time I’ll be away [from home]."
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