Anderson 'feared 'X-Files' pregnancy sacking'

Rex Features

Gillian Anderson has reportedly revealed that she feared being fired from The X-Files after falling pregnant.

The actress, who played FBI agent Dana Scully in the hit show, became pregnant shortly after filming the first series and is convinced that it was only her on-screen chemistry with co-star David Duchovny that saved her job.

"They would have loved to have punished me but realised there was steam picking up. I thought they were overreacting but now I see it from their perspective," WENN quotes her as saying.

"I would have been bloody p****d if I had been them and had cast a girl, against my better judgement, who got pregnant after the first season."

Eventually, the show's bosses wrote an alien abduction storyline into the plot allowing Anderson time to give birth to daughter Piper and enjoy ten days of maternity leave.