Outside the Mexican border town of Tecate, 45
miles inland from San Diego, with the intention of
hiking in the mountians and relaxing in what is a
normally dry heat. "This is the first time in a long
time that I've gone somewhere knowing there will be
nothing I have to do," she says. "There won't be even
phones in the room." Ducking into her Spanish-Colonial
villa with its break archways and beamed ceilings, she
settles into a wood-frame sofa and warms herself before
the roaring fireplace. Wrapped in a thin chenille rode,
Anderson is more striking and blatantly girlish than
she appears as the X-Files' skeptical FBI Agent
Dana Scully. With her red satin hair pulled back from
astonishingly milky skin and secretive blue eyes, it is
tempting to discribe her as an ethereal beauty. But
that would be too simple. And nothing about Gillian
Anderson is simple.
She has spent her first day at Rancho La Puerta
unwinding with massage. "Actually, I've got two
massages," says Anderson. "One of them was one of the
best I've ever had." The ranch prides itself on being
the first fitness spa in North America; it was found in
1939, and the Hollywood clientele has included Burt
Lancaster and Charlton Heston. Guests can enjoy a
holistic approuch to exercise and eating during their
stay. Anderson, who doesn't eat wheat, has been looking
for millet since she arrived. She explains, "I'm highly
sensitive to food. Automaticlly, I can feel the shift
in my body." Plus she has just completed a rigorous
10-day "cleanse" (supervised by nutritionist Bo Wagner,
who is based in Venice, California) that has left her
feeling euphoric. Not as delicate as she appears,
Anderson opts for a yoga class and a tai chi lesson.
Following a young guide up one of the Kuchumaa foothill
hiking trails, she stops on a buff and is instructed in
some basic tai chi moves. "You immediately feel like
you're one with nature," she says of the eastern
disipline. "You become one with the wind and the air
you're breathing. It's something I'd be interested in
studying--for balance." Inner balance is important to
Anderson, who, as the star of a TV phenomeon that has
now spawned the movie The X-Files ( opening
June 19), has something been in danger of losing hers.
In the five years since she landed the role of Scully,
at age 24, she has gotten married to art Director Cylde
Klozt, in 1994), given birth to a daughter, Piper Maru,
and left her husband after 2 years. Unprepared for
international fame and taboid hyperscrutiny, she had to
learn how to deal with the rush of attention while on
the job.
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