Gillian Anderson recalls meeting Bill Clinton on campaign trail and his ‘intimate’ handshake

Gillian Anderson during a talk show visit on Tuesday recalled meeting Bill Clinton when he was running for the White House and his intimate handshake.

The 53-year-old actress appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC to promote her Showtime series The First Lady, in which she portrays Eleanor Roosevelt, and  revealed that she has never met a First Lady but that she had met a President.  

‘I met Clinton,’ said Gillian who wore a stunning but simple black strapless dress. ‘I met him when he was running for office, the first time. It was lunch for him at somebody’s fancy house in the Hollywood Hills. At the end of his speech, we created a line for him and he walked down the line and we got to meet him.’

Intimate handshake: Gillian Anderson during a talk show visit on Tuesday recalled meeting Bill Clinton when he was running for the White House and his intimate handshake

‘He did the most miraculous thing in the world,’ Gillian said. ‘That thing where he shakes your hand and grabs your elbow at the same time. He holds your arm further up, slightly intimate little thing, makes eye contact and then moves on to the next person. Then he looks back at you.’

Jimmy, 54, said he got all of that except for the last part when he met Clinton.

‘I did not experience the look back,’ Jimmy said.

‘I went home, this was in the days of answering machines, I literally thought that I was going to go home to a message from him,’ Gillian said. ‘I did. It was that real.’

Former president: Bill Clinton is shown campaigning in New Hampshire in December 1991

‘Probably your answering machine was broken because he definitely called,’ Jimmy said.

Jimmy then asked her if she voted for Clinton, 75, after that.

‘Ummm, yes,’ Gillian said.

Message expected: ‘I went home, this was in the days of answering machines, I literally thought that I was going to go home to a message from him,’ Gillian said. ‘I did. It was that real’

‘Even though he didn’t call?’ Jimmy said. ‘He’s probably going to call now.’

Jimmy also asked her about winning an Emmy Award last year for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Crown, which she accepted remotely with the rest of the cast in London due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

‘That was the first time we were seeing each other again which was nice,’ Gillian said.

Remote awards: ‘That was the first time we were seeing each other again which was nice,’ Gillian said of winning an Emmy Award last year for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Crown, which she accepted remotely with the rest of the cast in London due to the COVID-19 pandemic

‘For the Golden Globes, I was shooting in Prague and was all alone in a hotel room all dressed up in front of a computer for the entire Golden Globes,’ Gillian said. ‘But there was a technician who was there in the room with me.’

‘Even worse,’ Jimmy said.

‘It kind of would have been okay to be alone but there was this guy, who I didn’t know, over in the corner,’ Gillian said. ‘Watching me make my acceptance speech. At one point, he snuck a picture.’

All alone: ‘For the Golden Globes, I was shooting in Prague and was all alone in a hotel room all dressed up in front of a computer for the entire Golden Globes,’ Gillian said. ‘But there was a technician who was there in the room with me’

‘How very strange,’ Jimmy said. 

Jimmy noted that Gillian won her first Emmy for The X-Files and asked her what year that was. She said it was 1997. Jimmy then told her that during one episode of the hit sci-fi show that Mulder asked her if she could be one person besides herself and she said ‘Eleanor Roosevelt.’ 

‘Wow,’ Gillian said. ‘It is very strange. It is true.’

Very strange: Jimmy then told her that during one episode of her hit sci-fi show The X-Files that Mulder asked her if she could be one person besides herself and she said ‘Eleanor Roosevelt’

Jimmy said that she was playing Eleanor Roosevelt in the Showtime anthology series and asked her about the role.

‘When they first offered me the job, I was like what?’ Gillian said. ‘I’m short. I’m 5’3. She’s 6 feet tall. Even when we were shooting and I wore as high a shoe as I could get away with, I was still shorter than anyone else on the show. But we decided to ignore that.’

‘I was figuring we would have ramps built like we did on The X-Files,’ Gillian said.

Tall character: ‘I was figuring we would have ramps built like we did on The X-Files,’ Gillian said of playing much taller Eleanor

Jimmy then told her they dug up her first acting role from when she was 18 that was a dermatology commercial.

‘Somebody sent that to me a few months ago and this was the first time, I swear in my life, I’ve seen it,’ Gillian said.

Jimmy then played a clip from her new Showtime show The First Lady.

First role: Jimmy then told her they dug up her first acting role from when she was 18 that was a dermatology commercial

He asked her if it was terrible wearing the teeth for the role of Eleanor Roosevelt.

‘It actually wasn’t, it helped,’ Gillian said. ‘I had prosthetic teeth in, which is the first time that I tried them and I felt like they really helped me to get into character.’

‘Viola Davis plays Michelle Obama and Michelle Pfeiffer plays Betty Ford, did you guys cross paths at all?’ Jimmy asked.

‘Never,’ Gillian said. ‘The first time we met was a couple of weeks ago when I was in LA for a CBS interview. ‘

Jimmy then shared other photos that Gillian brought of her in costume dressed as Eleanor Roosevelt giving the photographer the finger.

Anthology series: ‘Viola Davis plays Michelle Obama and Michelle Pfeiffer plays Betty Ford, did you guys cross paths at all?’ Jimmy asked and Gillian said they never met until a few weeks ago