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Alexandra Billings is torn about her feelings on embattled “Transparent” co-star Jeffrey Tambor.
“The horrifying thing is — and horrifying because it’s so painful — is that I still love him very much,” the actress, 59, tells Page Six in an exclusive new interview. “I don’t love his behavior, but that’s true of a lot of people.”
Billings calls Tambor’s pattern of alleged misconduct “abominable,” noting, “He still hasn’t totally admitted to everything that he’s done. I don’t know that he ever will, but that’s up to him. That’s between him and his god, not me.”
In 2017, Tambor was fired from the critically acclaimed Amazon Prime Video show following multiple allegations of sexual harassment. He played a trans woman named Maura Pfefferman, a role which garnered him an Emmy.
Trace Lysette, who is transgender, claimed Tambor had pressed his body against hers on set in an aggressive manner and made inappropriate comments including, “My God, Trace. I want to attack you sexually.”
The actor’s former assistant Van Barnes and “Never Again” makeup artist Tamara Delbridge also came forward with allegations of misconduct.
Tambor, 77, admitted to having a volcanic temper — and once blowing up on “Arrested Development” co-star Jessica Walter — but maintained that he never sexually harassed anyone.
He did, however, apologize in a 2020 podcast interview, saying in part, “I, in no way, ever, ever intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable. … If I made anyone, anyone feel vulnerable, I’m sorry. I’m sorry it ended the way it did.”
Billings recounts her time on “Transparent,” in which she played Maura’s trans friend Davina, in her upcoming memoir, “This Time for Me.” In it, she details Tambor’s increasingly frequent and vicious outbursts and inappropriate comments but confesses she was about to quit when he was suddenly fired.
The “Never Have I Ever” star also opens up about her tumultuous life, including four on-and-off years as a sex worker, a drug addiction and an AIDS diagnosis.
Billings did enjoy one aspect of being a sex worker, though.
“I liked the power,” she says. “I loved that sense of power. And because I always decided when it was over, even though they were paying. I always decided when it was over because they would say, ‘Oh, stay the night,’ and I [would] say, ‘No, I don’t want to.’”
Ultimately, the book is a valentine to her wife, Chrisanne Blankenship, whom she met in high school and married in 1995.
“Pretty much every day I’m like, ‘I can’t believe that she married me’ because I’m so insane and I’m so much,” she says with a laugh. “I’m just a lot, and all the time … for 45 years, I’ve been like that. And she’s very grounded.”
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