Kim Cattrall is opening up about the realities of aging in Hollywood.
“Speaking for me, a woman in her 60s that is, I think the biggest challenge is to continue to be relevant, to work, to be able to convey a message, to be relevant,” Cattrall, 67, told Vogue Greece in an interview published on Tuesday, August 29.
The Sex and the City alum added that in moments of doubt, she always turned to her mother, Shane, for inspiration when trying to remain determined in her career. (Shane died in December 2022 at the age of 93.)
“I have always had my mother as a role model,” Cattrall explained. “Although she could never connect with a job that would make her happy, and was depressed and alone for long periods of time, she never lost her stubbornness.”
Kim, who celebrated her 67th birthday earlier this month, surprised fans when she recently reprised her role as Samantha Jones on the season 2 finale of SATC spinoff And Just Like That. Cattrall was a mainstay on the original HBO series — starring in all six seasons and its two subsequent films alongside costars Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis — but did not participate in season 1 of the Max revival.
While season 1 of the AJLT revealed that Samantha’s absence was due to a fallout between her and Carrie (Parker), behind the scenes, rumors swirled about Cattrall and Parker’s bad blood.
In February, Cattrall publicly voiced her contention for Parker following the death of her brother, telling the Hocus Pocus star to “stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your ‘nice girl’ persona.”
Parker, for her part, has since shut down Cattrall’s claims she mistreated her.
“It’s very hard to talk about the situation with Kim because I’ve been so careful about not ever wanting to say anything that is unpleasant,” Parker said during a June 2022 appearance on the “Awards Chatter” podcast. “There has been one person talking … 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 has ever talked about me this way.”
When questions about Cattrall’s absence on AJLT popped up amid the series premiere in 2021, Parker shared that Cattrall was not approached for the revival initially because “she made it clear” it was “not something she wanted to pursue.”
“It no longer felt comfortable for us, and so it didn’t occur to us,” Parker told The Hollywood Reporter in December 2021. “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.’”
Despite Cattrall not reprising her role in season 1, it was reported in May that the actress would return for a cameo in the season 2 finale, which aired on Thursday, August 24 and featured 74 seconds of Cattrall reprising her fan-favorite role Parker told Entertainment Tonight in June that she was “really excited” about Cattrall’s return.
“I thought it was a really good idea and I was thrilled that, you know, we could make it happen and that it worked for her and it’s just really nice to see. It’s really nice. I was really pleased,” Parker told the outlet at the time.
Nixon, meanwhile, urged fans ahead of the episode to manage their expectations.
“I worry that with all the build-up, people are going to wonder what all the fuss was about. It’s important to know that it is a very brief, very small cameo,” she told London’s The Times in a June interview. “We were very disappointed that the secret leaked of Kim’s upcoming appearance. We so hoped it was something people wouldn’t know about until they saw the episode and that it would be a fun surprise as they were watching.”
Nixon’s worries, however, were seemingly unfounded, as fans praised Samantha’s return — and Cattrall’s ability to still portray her so accurately — following last week’s finale.
“After finishing AJLT, I just had to go back and rewatch SATC from season 1 because I missed Samantha Jones,” one fan wrote via X (formally known as Twitter). Another said: “My serotonin, endorphins dopamine and oxytocin [are] all skyrocketing during Smatna Jones’ brief cameo on AJLT.”
A third added: “I am SCREAMING at Samantha Jones on AJLT!!! Like full on!!!”
