Here we go again with this old chestnut… but this time actor Julianna Margulies makes the point that maybe she’s not as straight as people are assuming. 

Famous for The Good Wife and E.R., Margulies recently joined Apple TV+’s The Morning Show which was a huge hit when it hit the streaming platform starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Anniston. In the show she plays Laura Peterson, a veteran news anchor who was once fired because of sexuality and then gets into a romantic relationship with Witherspoon’s character. 

In an interview with CBS Mornings, she addressed criticism she has received as a straight woman playing a queer character: “I can understand that. My response also would be: We’re all making assumptions as to who I am and what my past is, and what all of our pasts are. I understand 100 percent that I can’t play a different race, but I am an actress, and I am supposed to embody another character. Whatever their sexuality is doesn’t matter to me—the same way watching a gay person play a straight person.”

Hmmm you had us til that last bit Jules, we’re sure you’ve watched gay people play straight all your life but they didn’t feel they could come out which is why this is an issue now. She goes on:  “Are you telling me, because I’m a mother, I can never play a woman who’s never had a child? Or if you’ve never been married, that you can’t play a married woman? I mean, you have to be careful on where you’re drawing the line there. We’re actors. We’re supposed to embody a character regardless of their sexuality. When it comes to race and gender, that’s a whole different story, and I 100 percent agree with that. So, that’s my stance on it.”

Margulies certainly does bring up an interesting point, how do we know that she hasn’t had a relationship with a woman in the past? We’re pretty sure it would have been worldwide news if any of the male A-listers who have played gay in the past said something similar.

Also where is the furore about Reese Witherspoon’s character entering into a relationship with Margulies’s character? Should THAT be allowed when Witherspoon is straight? Maybe just watch the show and enjoy decent actors that we love already act the shit out of each other onscreen.  

Here’s the full interview with Margulies on CBS Mornings: