For years there have been rumors that Sex and the City costars Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall flat-out don’t like each other. The women previously denied feud rumors, but where there’s smoke, there is usually fire. And after plans for a third Sex and the City movie fell through, it became all but impossible to believe there wasn’t bad blood between the two. From nasty comments to low-key shade, here’s a timeline of Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall’s feud. It’s amazing they managed to have so much chemistry as Carrie and Samantha!
February 2004
Filming for the SATC movie was supposed to start shortly after the final episode aired on HBO. However, shooting was reportedly delayed due to salary negotiations — namely Kim’s. Apparently, Kim wanted a big pay increase after SJP got an executive producer credit in the second season and harbored resentment ever since.
“I felt after six years it was time for all of us to participate in the financial windfall of Sex and the City,” she said in an interview, revealing that she wanted to be paid $1 million per episode instead of the $350,000 she was making. “When they didn’t seem keen on that I thought it was time to move on.”
September 2004
At the Emmys — where both Sarah Jessica and Cynthia Nixon won awards — Kim sat far away from her costars. At an afterparty, SJP, Cynthia and Kristin Davis were all seen hanging out together, while Kim did her own thing. When she was later asked why they were separated, Kim said, “Are we the best of friends? No. We’re professional actresses. We have our own separate lives.”
May 2008
During an interview, SJP was asked about the feud and the salary disputes. “Honestly, we are all friends and I wish I saw more of Kim. She mentioned money and no one should vilify her for it,” the Hocus Pocus actress said. “People made a decision that we had vilified her. No one bothered to say [to the rest of us], ‘Are you disappointed by not making the movie?’ Yes. ‘Do you respect and support her choice to not do it?’ Absolutely.”
December 2009
Both Kim and Sarah Jessica attempted to dispel rumors of a falling out. Kim (along with Cynthia Nixon) attended the premiere of SJP’s movie Did You Hear About the Morgans? to show her support. Meanwhile, that same month, Sarah Jessica said of Kim in an interview with Elle, “I don’t think anybody wants to believe that I love Kim. I adore her. I wouldn’t have done the movie without her. Didn’t and wouldn’t.”
January 2010
In a lengthy interview with the Daily Mail, Kim disputed rumors again, saying, “I think Sarah was right: people don’t want to believe that we get on. They have too much invested in the idea of two strong, successful women fighting with each other. It makes for juicy gossip and copy. The truth of us being friends and getting along and happily doing our jobs together is nowhere near as newsworthy. I think Sarah is fantastic … She and I are sick of this. It’s exhausting talking about it, and a real bore. Next?”
May 2010
Accompanying a SATC cover shoot for Marie Claire, the four ladies gave an in-depth interview. During it, Sarah Jessica alluded that, at times, the women didn’t all get along.
“When you’re on set, you’re working 90-hour weeks, you’re never home, you’re exhausted,” the Footloose actress confessed. “There are times when all of us have been sensitive and sometimes feelings get hurt. But I don’t have any regrets about how I’ve treated people.”
August 2016
SJP threw fans through a loop when she posted a sweet birthday message to Kim on Instagram. “Happy birthday you beauty @kimcattrall,” the Failure to Launch star gushed. Sending love and the very best for a perfectly marvelous, joyous, healthy and adventure-filled birthday year. Your ol’ pal, fellow mischief maker and ‘sister,’ Sj xxx.”
October 2016
In an interview with Howard Stern, Sarah Jessica admitted life on set wasn’t always smooth sailing. “Was every day perfect? Were people always desperately, hopefully in love with each other? No, but this is a family of people who needed each other, relied upon each other and loved each other. This sort of narrative, this ongoing catfight, it really upset me for a very long time,” she said.
September 2017
Plans for a third Sex and the City film were squashed, and SJP made no attempt to hide her frustration. During an interview with Extra, she said, “It’s over … we’re not doing it. I’m disappointed. We had this beautiful, funny, heartbreaking, joyful, very relatable script and story. It’s not just disappointing that we don’t get to tell the story and have that experience, but more so for that audience that has been so vocal in wanting another movie.”
Shortly after news broke, Daily Mail reported that the cancellation was due to Kim’s salary demands. But she took to Twitter to clear the air, saying, “Woke 2 a @MailOnline [poop emoji] storm! The only ‘DEMAND’ I ever made was that I didn’t want to do a 3rd film … and that was back in 2016.”
Woke 2 a @MailOnline
storm! The only ‘DEMAND’ I ever made was that I didn’t want to do a 3rd film….& that was back in 2016
— Kim Cattrall (@KimCattrall) September 29, 2017
October 2017
After news of the film being canceled broke, Kim did an interview with Piers Morgan, and she didn’t mince words when it came to dishing on her costars. After calling her relationship with the women “toxic,” she said, “They all have children and I am ten years older and since specifically the series ended, I have been spending most of my time outside of New York so I don’t see them. The common ground that we had was the series and the series is over.”
The Mannequin actress added, “This is really where I take to task the people from Sex and the City and specifically Sarah Jessica Parker in that I think she could have been nicer. I really think she could have been nicer.” Fighting words? We think so.
February 2018
Kim sadly announced that her brother Chris Cattrall had been found dead after he was missing for less than a week. Of course, Kim’s SATC costars left comments with their condolences on her Instagram post, including Sarah.
But Kim made it very clear that she does not want anything to do with Sarah and even accused the actress of exploiting her brother’s death in order to improve her reputation. “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 wrote.
April 2018
SJP responded to Kim’s comments during an interview with Vulture at the time. “I’d just like to remind everybody that there is no catfight. I have never uttered an unkind, unsupportive, unfriendly word, so I would love to redefine it,” the Family Stone star said. “I’ve always held Kim’s work in high regard and always appreciative of her contributions. If she chooses not to do the third movie, there’s not a lot I can do to change her mind and we must respect it.”
August 2019
Kim continued her claims of mistreatment while speaking with Observer magazine. “It was a blessing in so many ways but after the second movie I’d had enough,” the Ghost Writer star said. “I couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t just replace me with another actress instead of wasting time bullying. No means no.”
January 2021
It’s happening! SJP announced on January 11 a SATC reboot titled “And Just Like That …” is coming to HBOMax. “I couldn’t help but wonder … where are they now? X, SJ,” she teased via Instagram. However, Variety confirmed Kim is not returning as Samantha.