‘Star Wars’ actor Billy Dee Williams accepts homosexuality rumors

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By Nicki Gostin

Billy Dee Williams, who rose to fame as Lando Calrissian in the original “Star Wars” trilogy, never cared that people thought he was gay in the ’70s.

While speaking to Page Six about rumors that could have jeopardized her career at the time, she said, “I’ve been called the ‘Closet Queen.’

“But I don’t pay much attention to any of that.”

Earlier this month, the actor published his hilarious memoir “What Do We Have Here?” covering not only his seven-decade career, but also the stories of many famous people he met along the way, including Marlon Brando, James Baldwin, Laurence Olivier and Angela Lansbury.

The Harlem native, who will turn 87 in April, writes that he always felt comfortable hanging out with members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and even attended secret gay parties in the basement of the Metropolitan Opera when he was an extra.

“Everything seemed very normal to me,” he shares. “I’ve been involved in this my whole life, so I never thought much about it.”

In his book, the “Brian’s Song” actor recalls a recent conversation with his daughter (he has been married three times) in which he discussed Carl Jung’s theory of anima and animus.

The famous psychoanalyst believed that the animus is the unconscious masculine side of women, while the anima is the unconscious feminine side of men.

“I told my daughter,” he recalls.

“I was talking about why men should be more in touch with their feminine side and then my daughter said to me, the first time I heard the phrase, gender fluid.

“My daughter was very happy to think that I was gender fluid!”

He “DWTS” alum notes that she finds the current gender wars “really funny, to say the least.”

Williams became a matinee idol in films such as “Lady Sings the Blues” and “Mahogany” and a global star for her film role. “Star Wars” franchisewhich he described as “a really interesting trip.”

“Especially, when you go to conventions and do Q&As, and you run into a 10-year-old kid who wants to kill you because you betrayed Han Solo! So it becomes a really interesting kind of adventure,” he writes.

Williams added that he’s been in situations where he’s been forced to explain “the whole betrayal thing, but it’s a lot of fun and I enjoy it.”