So, what’s the story behind Kim Cattrall and Sarah Jessica Parker’s feud?

Samantha will not be returning to the SATC reboot - here's why...

sex and the city kim cattrall sarah jessica parker

by Bonnie McLaren |
Updated on

Sex And The City is returning - but, as everyone has noticed, without one of its key counterparts: Kim Cattrall, AKA Samantha Jones. When news of the 10-episode reboot was announced yesterday, many shared their disappointment on social media that Samantha - the self-proclaimed 'try-sexual', meaning she'll try anything once - wouldn't make an appearance, with one tweet reading: 'Sex And The City without Samantha is just And The City.'

While there has been no official statement as to why Kim isn't returning for And Just Like That, it can probably be guessed as to why Kim isn't taking part: her very public, messy feud with SJP, which has been rumbling on (publicly) for years.

Following the series end in 2004, there had long been reports that Kim, 64, SJP, 55, Kristin Davis, 55, and Cynthia Nixon, 54, weren't exactly best of friends. In a 2017 New York Postarticle, titled 'Inside the mean-girl culture that destroyed SATC', it notes that SJP and Cynthia quickly became friends as they knew each other before their time on the show as young Broadway actresses, and they then included Kristin in their group. However, Cattrall was left feeling even more isolated when series creator and producer Darren Star left, who was replaced by SJP's friend Michael Patrick King.

Four years after the series finished, a report in the Telegraph stated that Parker and Cattrall fell out over money when SJP was given an executive producer title in the second season, which increased her salary to $300,000. Upon finding this out, Kim apparently tried to negotiate for a higher salary - but this didn’t go down well, as apparently the other lead actresses ‘wouldn’t even sit with [Cattrall] at mealtimes.’ This same report also looked back at the time in 2004, when Cattrall didn't sit with the other actresses at the Emmys - to which she said: 'Are we the best of friends? No. We're professional actresses. We have our own separate lives.'

Ouch. It didn't get any better on the set of the first Sex And The City movie - as a 2009 article in New York magazine said Parker and Cattrall were no longer speaking. However, both of them later said in separate interviews that a fued didn't exist, and people simply didn't want to believe they got on.

Fast forward a few years, and it was reported that Kim was the reason the third SATC movie was stalled. According to the Daily Mail, she wanted Warner Bros to produce other movies she had in development or she wouldn't sign up for the project. Kim denied this, but in an episode of Piers Morgan's Life Stories that year, she confirmed that she had no interest in ever returning to the franchise. She told Piers: 'We've never been friends - we've been colleagues. And in some ways that's a very healthy place to be, as you have a clear line between your professional life, and your personal, too.' Then, Kim said she thought SJP could have been kinder to her, adding: 'I really think [SJP] could have been nicer.'

A year later, and their feud was left in no doubt. Following reports Kim's brother had died, SJP shared her condolences with her former castmate in an Instagram comment. This did not go down well with Kim, who responded in a separate post: 'Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now,' she wrote. ‘Let me make this VERY clear. (If I haven’t already). You are not my family. You are not my friend.'

Kim is also said to have been disappointed with the way in which Samantha was treated in the second film and the planned third, and has suggested that the character be recast. This, however, is not expected to take place.

Check out: 31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City

Gallery

31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

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CREDIT: Getty

31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City

The tutu that Carrie wears in the opening credits cost $5 from a showroom bargain bin. It's now framed and hangs in Michael Patrick King's office.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

Even if she was filmed from the waist up, Kim Cattrall – who played Samantha – insisted she wore heels as she said it made her feel more like her character.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

MISTAKE ALERT! In the opening credits, the bus that goes past Carrie with her picture on it is full of people in the first shot, then totally empty once it splashes her.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

Sarah Jessica Parker was the only one of the four ladies to have a nudity clause in her contract stating she would never appear naked.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

Mr Big's second wife, Natasha, always wore white because her character was meant to be 'vanilla'.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

Remember that politician Carrie dates in Season 3? He only went on to play ROGER STERLING in Mad Men.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

Carrie's 'Newspaper Dress' was designed by John Galliano for Christian Dior and would have set her back $1,500.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

Cynthia Nixon, who played Miranda, didn't have pierced ears. All her earrings were clip-ons.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

When Trey (Kyle MacLachlan) proposed to Charlotte (Kristen Davis) outside Tiffanys, it wasn't the real Tiffanys. The store wouldn't let them film for security reasons, so the set designers had to design a fake Tiffanys window. A Tiffanys employer still okayed it though.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

No outfit was ever repeated twice – except Carrie's fur coat in the final scene of the last series where she's on the phone to 'John' (you know who that is!).

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

When Miranda's cat steals Brady's umbilical chord (hard to forget that bit) the 'umbilical chord' was actually some beef jerky tied to a piece of string.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

The scene where Carrie and Miranda ate a cupcake outside Magnolia bakery was credited for the global boom in cupcakes sales which followed. Yes, GLOBAL. The shop also later had to hire bouncers to control the crowds.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

Why was Mr Big called Mr Big? Sex and the City author Candice Bushnell told New York Magazine in 2004, 'He was one of those New York guys with a big personality — you just notice him as soon as he walks in the room.' She also said, 'I called him Mr. Big because he was like a big man on campus.'

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

Carrie's 'Carrie Necklace' came from costume designer, Patricia Field's, East Village shop – often frequented by students. 'That name necklace was something that black kids, Puerto Rican kids, borough kids, ethnic kids had been wearing forever, that was just a statement,' she said. She had one made up especially for Carrie.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

Jennifer Aniston's ex-husband, Justin Theroux, appeared twice in SATC. First as Stanford's pal in Season One's The Monogamists, Jared, who Carrie flirts with at New York Magazine's '30 coolest people under 30' party. Second, as writer Vaughn Wysel in Shortcomings, who has a very close and open family, the mother of which Carrie felt was the person she ultimately had to break up with when the relationship with Vaughn collapsed.

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CREDIT: Getty

31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

Who was Mr Big based on? Publishing executive Ron Galotti, former publisher of GQ and Talk. Wanna see a pic of him? Ok...

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CREDIT: Getty

31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

Mr Big was originally described by Carrie as 'the next Donald Trump'... What a relief she was wrong.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

The first dog to play Aidan's pooch, Pete, was afraid of actor John Corbett. It loved SJP though. In the end, they had to find another dog for the role.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

When Carrie falls into the Central Park pond to avoid a kiss from Big, Sarah Jessica Parker cut her foot on the bottom and had to have a tetanus shot straight after, even though the pool was dredged prior to filming. Luckily the scene was filmed in one take – but still... WHAT a palaver!

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

Sarah Jessica Parker was once set-up on a date with Willie Garson. Who was he, you might ask? Only Stanford Blatch!

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

Season 5 was created to be shorter than the other series' because Sarah Jessica Parker was pregnant.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

Carrie never calls Mr Big 'Big' to his face – only behind his back. In fact, she doesn't call him anything at all in the ENTIRE series. It's only in Sex and the City: The Movie that she refers to him by his real name, 'John'... and that's just the once when she gets home and asks where he is.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

The four girls' family are rarely mentioned because the show's creators didn't want family issues to detract from the friendships and characters.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

When Carrie goes to LA to talk about a film version of her book and ends up having that #awkward chat with Matthew McConaughey about his take on the 'Mr Big character', Matthew wasn't the first actor approached for the cameo. Originally it was Alec Baldwin, who turned it down. As did George Clooney. And also Warren Beatty.

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CREDIT: Getty

31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

Candice Bushnell only made $60,000 from selling the film rights to her bestselling book Sex and the City.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

The most expensive dress Carrie wore was the Atelier Versace Couture 'Mille Feuille' gown in the penultimate SATC episode, when she was in Paris awaiting her date with Aleksandr Petrovsky. It cost $80,000.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

Carrie's apartment – 245 E 73rd Street, between Park and Madison – doesn't exist. It's actual location was 66 Perry Street, between Bleeker and 4th East 73rd street.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

All the ladies 'lobbied' for more diversity on the show, 'no one more than Sarah Jessica', Cynthia Nixon once revealed.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

Kim Cattrall only decided to play Samantha after a friend convinced her. She turned down the role twice.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

Carrie Bradshaw's apartment was sold in 2012 for $9.65million. In the series she said she paid just $750 per month in rent for it. OH THE DAYS.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

The book Love Letters Of Great Men from SATC Movie didn't exist until after the film, and it only came out because so many people wanted to buy it.

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31 Things You Didn't Know About Sex And The City - Grazia

When Carrie bumps into Aidan carrying his baby in Season 6, the child was actually Sarah Jessica Parker's. That's why the baby looks so pleased to see her – CUTE!

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