Michelle Williams Discusses Her New Awareness of Male Chastity Belts (Exclusive)

Michelle Wiliams learned about some new sex toys on the set of Dying for Sex!

In an exclusive chat with PEOPLE at the Dying for Sex FYC Event in West Hollywood, Calif. on Saturday June 7, the actress, 44, shared the most surprising toy she was introduced to while working on the show. 

“I did not know about c— cages, that was new to me,” Williams says. “They look so different than what I had imagined. Yeah, so I learned about that.”

In Dying for Sex, Williams plays terminally ill Manhattan resident Molly Kochan, who leaves her husband of 13 years in pursuit of exploring her sexual desires. The FX limited series is based on the hit Wondery podcast of the same title, which was created by Kochlan and her best friend Nikki Boyer (played by Jenny Slate in the series). 

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While Williams confirms that working on the show was initially “daunting,” she shares that she soon found a comfortability being on set with her costars.

“When a person signs onto this particular piece of material, you understand immediately that you have a lot in common with that person,” she tells PEOPLE. “This material is different than anything I’ve been exposed to. It spoke to me in ways that I didn’t really even understand or could articulate, but I felt a very strong personal connection to it.”

“And then Jenny felt a strong personal connection to it and Rob Delaney and Jay Duplass and Sissy Spacek, so I thought, you know what? We have a lot in common, me and these other people, we’re drawn to this very particular tone,” Williams reflects. 

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Williams adds that portraying her character’s strong connection with her best friend came easily, as she referred to her public friendship with bestie and former Dawson’s Creek costar Busy Philipps.

“It’s our love story, so I really related to it,” she tells PEOPLE. “I was so moved by it, obviously, because I have a very, very public best-friendship with my very vocal best friend [Philipps]. So this really mirrored what I’ve experienced in my own life, and also centered … with my real mainstay relationships.” 

“To see that relationship as the A storyline and not the B storyline that supports the man and woman falling in love. That was something I could really get behind,” added Williams.