Gillian Anderson was a 'promiscuous' rebel in high school.

The 'X-Files' actress has admitted she was a troublesome teenager - becoming jealous of her younger siblings when her parents had more children when she turned 13 - and caused havoc by dying her hair red, piercing her nose, drinking and dating a man 10 years her senior.

She told Reader's Digest magazine: 'I was promiscuous, drinking a lot and lucky to come out the other side.'

The 44-year-old star shocked her classmates at school, who voted her 'Most Likely to Get Arrested', and she proved them right when she was apprehended by police officers on her graduation night.

She revealed: 'I tried to glue the school gates shut. I'm pretty sure it was the only time, though.'

Gillian eventually turned to acting as a way to channel her energy and shot to fame aged 24 when she was cast alongside David Duchovny in the hit US sci-fi drama.

However, Gillian - who has daughter Piper Maru with her first husband, Clyde Klotz, and sons, Oscar and Felix with her former partner Mark Griffiths - admits to being 'very naive' about the attention that came with the role and eventually fled to London when the show ended in 2002.

She said: 'London is my favourite city in the world. I love everything about it - it's a great place to bring up children and there are so many green spaces. People in the British service industry are so great. And, by the grace of God, I don't have paparazzi outside my door.'