David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson didn’t “speak to each other for weeks at a time” when they worked on The X-Files.

The 64-year-old actor and Gillian, 56, enjoyed huge success with the iconic sci-fi series, but the duo actually had a turbulent relationship for many years.

David said on the Fail Better podcast: “There was a long time, working on the show, where we were just not even dealing with one another off-camera. And there was a lot of tension. Which didn’t matter, apparently, for the work ’cause we’re both f—ing crazy, I guess. We could just go out there and do what we needed to do.”

Gillian is amazed that they achieved so much success while their off-screen relationship was so tense.

The actress shared: “It’s crazy that we were able to present on camera, you know, the various feelings and emotions and attraction and all that kind of stuff, but then not speak to each other for weeks at a time.”

David believes that their off-screen tension could’ve benefited their on-screen performance. However, the actor now looks back on that period with some regrets.

He said: “I could’ve handled myself better, you know? And as you know, we went through a crazy-making kind of a process with this thing.

“We went from… I mean, I was pretty inexperienced. You were really inexperienced. And all of a sudden … It was like a global phenomenon before the internet. And we’re just scurrying, trying to figure out who we are.”

Despite this, Gillian acknowledged that they shared a very special experience.

She said: “We have a closeness that we don’t have with probably many other people, and went through something that we didn’t go through with any other people. I mean, yes, there were crew and etc., but in terms of our experience as actors.”