Sarah Jessica Parker reveals why it's 'very painful' for her to talk about Kim Cattrall

Sarah Jessica Parker wants you to know that there is no “catfight” between her and former Sex And The City co-star Kim Cattrall, but she also needs you to know that talking about it is “very painful.”

Speaking with Scott Feinberg for The Hollywood Reporter’s “Awards Chatter” podcast, SJP specifically said, “It’s very hard to talk about the situation with Kim,” so to fully explain her side, she went back five years to 2017 when, as far as she’s concerned, the rift between her and Kim began. Her comments begin at the 58:20 time index.

Back then, there was talk of a third SATC movie on the horizon, but Canadian-raised Kim was very vocal that she didn’t want to make a third one, even tweeting as much that year. SJP said the creative minds behind the third film, “didn’t feel comfortable meeting where she wanted to meet, and so we didn’t do the movie because we didn’t want to do it without Kim. Were we [she and co-stars Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon] disappointed? Sure. But it happens.”

But the And Just Like That  star (steam now on Crave) says it was when Kim started publicly blasting not only the behind-the-scenes culture at the show, but also SJP herself, that things took a turn. 

“There were just a lot of public conversations about how she felt about the show,” Parker said, calling those experiences “very painful” because neither she nor Cynthia Nixon or Kristin Davis felt the same way about filming the show. 

“I’ve spent a lot of years working really hard to always be decent to everybody on the set, to take care of people, to be responsible to and for people, both my employers and the people that I feel I’m responsible for as a producer of the show. And there just isn’t anyone else who’s ever talked about me this way.”

In 2018, Kim Cattrall’s brother passed away, and when SJP publicly extended her condolences, Kim posted a no-holds-barred Instagram post, admonishing her former co-star.

“Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now,” Kim wrote in the caption. “Let me make this VERY clear. (If I haven’t already) You are not my family. You are not my friend. So I’m writing to tell you one last time to stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your ‘nice girl’ persona.” 

Kim then included a link to an interview she gave with the New York Post about the “mean girl” culture on the SATC set. She also reiterated her feelings to Piers Morgan during an interview in 2017, saying they were definitely colleagues but they’d “never been friends.” She also stated that SJP “could have been nicer.”

When AJLT was announced, fans were definitely wondering how the show was going to address Kim’s absence, especially since no one else could ever attempt to play the iconic role of Samantha. SJP tells Feinberg on the podcast, “We did not ask her to be part of this because she made it clear that that wasn’t something she wanted to pursue, and it no longer felt comfortable for us, and so it didn’t occur to us.”

She continued, “That’s not ‘slamming’ her, it’s just learning. You’ve got to listen to somebody, and if they’re publicly talking about something and it doesn’t suggest it’s someplace they want to be, or a person they want to play, or an environment in which they want to be, you get to an age where you’re like, ‘Well, we hear that.'”

Kim is now starring in the latest remake of Queer As Folk, while SJP and hubby Matthew Broderick have been co-starring in the hit Broadway play Plaza Suite.  

SJP finished off her comments by reiterating that the media calling this rift a “catfight” is situated in a bias that isn’t based on the reality of the situation. “It’s so painful for people to keep talking about this ‘catfight’ — a ‘fight,’ a ‘fight,’ a ‘fight.’ I’ve never uttered fighting words in my life about anybody that I’ve worked with — ever,” she said. 

“There is not a ‘fight’ going on. There has been no public dispute or spat or conversations or allegations made by me or anybody on my behalf,” she continued. “I wouldn’t do it. That is not the way I would have it. So I just wish that they would stop calling this a ‘catfight’ or an ‘argument,’ because it doesn’t reflect [reality].”

“There has been one person talking.”

A second season of And Just Like That is in the works.