Kim Cattrall is curiously espousing the value of defending oneself — after a publicized feud.
The “Sex and the City” actor famously opted out of a third film in the franchise and only appeared briefly in HBO’s spinoff series “And Just Like That.” She has previously explained her absence and said in an interview this week that her late mother taught her to “control my narrative.”
“For me, a woman in her 60s, I think that the biggest challenge is to keep being relevant, to keep working, to have something to say,” she told Vogue Greece in an interview published Monday that her representative translated for People on Tuesday. “My idol was always my mother.”
“She never lost her spirit,” added Cattrall. “That’s something she passed on to me. I am thankful to her for teaching me to defend myself and not allow others to control my narrative. That is a very important lesson for young women.”
The actor’s statements followed questions about her reprisal as Samantha Jones in “And Just Like That.” She told Variety in 2022 that she “didn’t want to compromise” her character — and seemingly confirmed a behind-the-scenes feud with Sarah Jessica Parker in a 2017 interview with Piers Morgan.
Cattrall told Variety she was “never asked” to be in the spinoff and found out about it on social media. While she agreed to a brief cameo in the Season 2 finale after one particular demand was granted, Cattrall told NBC in June: “That’s as far as I’ll go.”
Parker, meanwhile, told Entertainment Weekly she was “glad” they could “manage” the cameo.
Chris Pizzello/Associated Press
Fellow franchise co-star Kristin Davis, meanwhile, had a rather illuminating answer when The Telegraph asked in June if any members of the cast spoke to Cattrall off-set: “You have to respect people’s wishes. I’m not gonna waste energy on it. I can’t change anybody.”
While the specific reason for this infighting remains unclear, Cattrall told British TV host Jonathan Ross in 2004 that the “financial windfall” of “Sex and the City” didn’t include her. Cattrall reportedly later negotiated a higher salary after Parker’s increased by $300,000.
Parker, Davis and co-star Cynthia Nixon sat together at the 2004 Emmy Awards — without Cattrall.
Cattrall told Variety last year that while the gang got together for two “Sex and the City” movies in 2008 and 2010, she opted out of another because the script didn’t “warrant a third film.” She said the spinoff “is basically the third movie” — lauding “how creative it was.”
“I think the original show is really amazing, but that was a different time,” she told the outlet after being asked if she and her former co-stars were friends in real life: “I guess it’s how you define friends. I think we were colleagues. My colleagues aren’t my friends.”