Lux Pascal & Naomi Watts just had a very queer meeting of the minds

Lux Pascal and Naomi Watts have been in each others’ lives for longer than any of us knew, and as evidenced by a new Interview Magazine chat between the two, it’s a very sweet relationship. Pascal explains early on that Watts was one of her favorite actresses growing up, and now, the two are peers in the industry, and allies in an important human rights struggle.

It started a few years ago, Watts met Pascal’s brother, mega-hunk star Pedro Pascal. The two instantly connected, a friendship which led to Watts sending Lux a very special birthday message when Lux was still studying acting at Juilliard. The two have been thick as thieves ever since, with more than just their acting backgrounds in common.

Pascal came out as trans in 2021, and Watts has a trans daughter, model Kai Schreiber. And both women do not play about trans rights. “I’m a mother of a trans kid,” Watts says, “and it isn’t always easy.”

While Pascal doesn’t always feel comfortable with the “trans activist” label, she acknowledges that merely being a thriving public figure at this point in time is something trans folks benefit from seeing in this climate. “You are doing a lot for the community,” Watts says, “and I do want to put my daughter in touch with you eventually.”

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“That’s an open door,” Pascal responds, noting later in the interview that she and Kai could definitely connect through their love of fashion.

From Pascal’s hotel in Puerto Rico—where she was seeing a Bad Bunny show—she and Watts talk about crying, dancing, and feeling seen in an industry that doesn’t make it easy to be authentic.

“I felt truly seen by my mother, and it’s taken a while to be seen that same way again,” Pascal says. “But all the answers I’ve given you are of an advocate. Now I’m like, ‘No, actress.‘ And that makes me feel seen as well because, finally, the roles that I’m either auditioning for or being offered relate to who I am.”

She continues, “My inner child is screaming, like, ‘Finally.’ I feel seen for the very first time since I was a child telling my mother who I was.”

Pascal’s experience seems not too far off from Watt’s daughter Kai’s, as discussed by her father Liev Schreiber in a Variety interview from May. “Kai was always who Kai is,” Schreiber explained, stating that Kai never officially came out as trans to her parents, but now feels that, in light of the current climate, she’s feeling more comfortable standing up for herself and standing in her trans identity. And like Pascal, she is “a fighter.”

“It’s important that she goes, ‘Hey, I am trans,’ and, ‘Look at me,'” Schreiber told Variety. “[Trans people are] actually a community of people who don’t have great resources, who don’t have access to help, who aren’t being protected and looked after by their families. These are people who are being rejected. These are people who are experiencing the harshest version of humanity that we can offer, and some of them are not surviving it,” he continued.

When Kai and Lux do finally connect, there’s no doubt that it’s going to be a monumental meeting of the minds. But for now, the conversation between Pascal and Watts is already pretty iconic.

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