Kelly McGillis & Girlfriend Join in Civil Union

Actress Kelly McGillis and sales executive Melanie Leis, who have known each other since 2000, were joined in a civil union this week, The New York Times reports.

Judge Robert T. Zane III, municipal presiding judge for New Jersey's Camden County, officiated at the Collingswood Municipal Court on Wednesday, says the paper.

The couple met when Leis tended bar in the Key West, Florida., restaurant McGillis owned with her second husband, Fred Tillman, with whom she has two daughters: Kelsey Laure, 20, and Sonora Ashley, 17.

As a then-single McGillis, now 53, said in May 2009, a reporter had asked if she were looking for a man or a woman. "It was like a moment of truth," she said. "I thought, Hmm, do I say the truth, or do I just say, It's none of your business, which is my standard answer? I said you know, I'm just going to say the truth. Definitely a woman."

Among McGillis's best-known film roles were opposite Harrison Ford in 1985's Witness, opposite Tom Cruise in 1986's Top Gun and opposite Jodie Foster in 1988's The Accused. Leis, 42, reports The Times, works in Philadelphia for Independence Communications, which supplies Muzak to businesses.

Kelly McGillis: Coming Out as a Lesbian Not Easy

Kelly McGillis was relaxing in the Florida sunshine and preparing to go on a cruise last February when a simple question caught her off guard: As a single woman, was she looking to date a man or a woman?

"It was like a moment of truth," says the actress, 52, who became a star after appearing with Tom Cruise in Top Gun in 1986. "[A reporter] asked me the question and I thought, Hmm, do I say the truth, or do I just say, It's none of your business, which is my standard answer?"

Her Truth

"I said you know, I'm just going to say the truth," McGillis told People at rehearsals for her new play The Little Foxes, which opens May 29th at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California.

McGillis's "truth" was a long time coming, and the answer was simple: "Definitely a woman."

The woman who made many a male’s heart flutter as the sultry flight instructor in Top Gun has been married twice and has two children. But she says she's actually been a lesbian most of her life. "I tried really hard not to be who I am. I tried super hard," she says. "It was a difficult journey for me to come to terms and be whole and happy with who I am."

Still McGillis, who stars as Regina Giddens in the play alongside Julia Duffy and Marc Singer, says she was surprised people made a big deal about her revelation.

"I got on a cruise ... I thought the whole thing had just disappeared [after the interview], and then I got a phone call: 'Oh my God, Kelly, you can't believe it, it's everywhere.' "

Back to Work

The Little Foxes is McGillis's return to acting after spending eight years as virtually a full-time mom to her two children, and she says it's been a challenge.

"The idea of being judged just totally freaks me out," says McGillis. "Even though I try really hard not to care what people think about me – and that really is my little adage, what you think about me is none of my business – it does matter, and it is hard."

One thing she's not working on right now: romance.

"I am single, and I'm really happy to be so. I was with somebody for eight years, and I just want to be single ... I have such cool friends, and such a cool life," says McGillis. "I don't know what God's plan is for me at all, I just know I'm so happy to be here and happy to be working."

Top Gun's Kelly McGillis "Comes Out"

Top Gun star Kelly McGillis has turned her back on men for good - reportedly confirming persistent rumors she is gay.

The actress been subjected to gossip about her sexuality throughout her career but she repeatedly denied speculation she was a lesbian.

But now McGillis has apparently confirmed she's shunning men in favour of a female lover.

According to Radar Online, she says, "I'm done with the man thing. I did that, I need to move on in life. That's another part of being true to yourself... that's been a challenge for me personally.

"I think that (accepting my homosexuality) was an ongoing process from the time I was about 12. I had a lot of things happened that convinced me that God was punishing me for being gay. That was a hard process."

McGillis has been wed twice and has two daughters from her marriage to Fred Tillman. The couple divorced in 2002.