As much as Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall would like their very-public beef to be behind them, it was impossible to watch And Just Like That... and not notice Samantha's glaring absence every few seconds. So, what better time to dive back in and track their feud from the beginning. Who's in the right? Who's in the wrong? Read on and decide for yourself.
1. There Was Only One Carrie Bradshaw
As we all know, Sex And The City began life as Candace Bushnell's column in The New York Observer. The column became a book, and soon enough, Bushnell hooked up with producer Darren Star to turn it into a TV show. Star wrote the pilot, and he had only one person in mind to play the iconic Carrie Bradshaw.
2. She Tried To Say No
Star pictured Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie from the very beginning, but SJP didn't see it. She turned him down at first, but he allegedly "begged" and convinced her to do it. She agreed, and soon, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, and Kim Cattrall joined her in the main cast.
None of them knew what they were in for.
3. She Got A Raise
By the second season, the show was clearly a hit. Sarah Jessica Parker became an executive producer, which came with a nice $300,000 salary bump. That's where the trouble started.
4. Money Killed Sex And The City
When SATC ended in 2004, fans were heartbroken, and everyone wanted to know why their favorite show was ending. Cattrall was the one to spill the beans, and her reason was simple: Money. "I felt after six years it was time for all of us to participate in the financial windfall of Sex And The City. When they didn't seem keen on that I thought it was time to move on."
With a juicy quote like that, people were dying to know more. Pretty soon, the dirty details started spilling out.
5. Things Got Tense On Set
For years, there had been rumors that SJP and Cattrall didn't get along. Cattrall evidently didn't like that SJP made more money, and rumor had it that things on set could get a little...tense. Then, after Cattrall's interview, the Telegraph decided to do some digging.
Turns out, there might have been something to those rumors...
6. Crew Members Confirmed The Rumors
The Telegraph report cited crew members who confirmed the money troubles on set. Cattrall allegedly tried to negotiate for a bigger salary after SJP got the producer bump. That's when everything started going downhill.
7. The Others Allegedly Turned On Cattrall
According to the report, the other cast members weren't happy with the way Cattrall handled the situation. For whatever reason, they didn't like that she had tried to get more money, and it drove a wedge between her and the other three. And things got awkward.
8. They Shunned Her
Apparently, the tension between Cattrall and the other cast members got so bad that they wouldn't even sit with her at meals. Still, no fans wanted to believe that the four of them weren't actually friends off-screen. Then, at the 2004 Emmys, the feud burst into the open.
9. The Feud Became Public At The Emmys
It was hard not to notice. When cameras panned across the crowd at the 2004 Emmy Awards, you'd see Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, and Cynthia Nixon all sitting happily together at their table—with one face glaringly absent. Kim Cattrall didn't sit with her co-stars at the show, and yeah, everyone noticed.
This feud was officially the real deal, but there was still so much more drama to come.
10. Cattrall Claimed They "Weren't Friends"
Obviously, reporters ran to Cattrall to ask her about the Emmys. She didn't start slinging mud, but she was noticeably frosty: "Are we the best of friends? No. We're professional actresses. We have our own separate lives." Ok, we know how Cattrall felt, but how did the others feel?
11. SJP Downplayed The Rumors
SJP maintained for years that the entire cast were friends, and that no one person was singled out: "Honestly, we are all friends and I wish I saw more of Kim. She mentioned money and no one should vilify her for it. People made a decision that we had vilified her."
If things ended there, I doubt anyone would care about the SJP/Cattrall beef. But, when word of a SATC movie started spreading, the feud started making headlines again.
12. One Cast Member Held The First Movie Up
Though two SATC movies eventually came out, for a while, it seemed like we might not even get one. Word had it that one of the cast members held out on agreeing and took some serious convincing. Obviously, fans assumed that Cattrall was the holdout.
But when Marie Claire asked her about it, Cattrall's response was heartbreaking.
13. Cattrall Was Extremely Honest
When asked if she was the holdout on the movie, Cattrall said, "Four years ago I was going through a painful public divorce, the series was coming to an end, and my father was diagnosed with dementia. I felt it was time to be with my real family. A year-and-a-half ago, when I was sent the script, I was ready and strong enough to revisit Samantha. In some ways, I'm glad we waited. The script and the experience of making the movie was the best possible reunion."
With the cast reunited and the first movie in the books, it seemed like maybe—just maybe—the beef was finally over. It was not.
14. Things Got Even Worse
No matter how much the cast tried to downplay reports of a feud, there was just too much smoke for there to be no fire. Then, when the second movie got rolling, the beef kicked into high gear.
15. The Second Movie Made Sparks Fly
When Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda got together to make the second movie in 2009, the long-simmering tension between Cattrall and SJP finally burst into flame. An article in New York magazine detailed what life was like on the set of the movie—and it wasn't pretty.
16. The Set Was Cold And Awkward
There are fun movie sets...and then there's the set for SATC 2. According to New York, Parker and Cattrall had stopped speaking entirely. As you can imagine, that made just about everyone on set extremely uncomfortable. It's honestly a miracle they got the movie finished at all.
But, as always, SJP was quick to downplay any reports of beef.
17. SJP Said She Loved Kim
ELLE magazine asked SJP about all the rumors, and as always, she denied, denied, denied: "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." And, believe it or not, this time, Cattrall agreed with her.
18. Cattrall Agreed
When asked about SJP's comments, Cattrall had this to say: "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...I think Sarah is fantastic...She and I are sick of this. It’s exhausting talking about it, and a real bore."
So, was that the truth? Had all of this been overblown, and there really was no feud? At the very least, that's definitely what the rest of the cast wanted us to believe...
19. They Kept Denying Any Problems
Parker and Cattrall had seemingly buried the hatchet, but the rumors had been around for too long to go away. When Marie Claire interviewed the whole cast, the reporter asked about tension on set. Parker admitted that "feelings get hurt." Cynthia Nixon continued, saying, "It hasn't always been smooth sailing, but the idea that we're somehow adversarial is ludicrous."
20. They Blamed The Press
Cattrall was right there with them: "The press has to put women in these boxes, rather than show them as the movie portrays them: working together and being powerful. Things just have to be explosive for no other reason than for people's imaginations."
So Parker said they were friends, Nixon said they were friends, and Cattrall said they were friends. What did Kristin Davis say?
21. Kristin And Kim Weren't Close Either
At some point, fans apparently saw Davis and Cattrall both eating at a hotel restaurant...just not together. When a reporter asked Davis about it, she, like everyone else, downplayed: "When I would get back from the set, I would go to the gym and get room service. I'm not a put-on-decent-clothes-and-go-to-the-hotel-restaurant person, but Kim is. The story was that we don't like each other. Ridiculous!"
Now we have come to the year 2016, and it seemed like the beef was finally dead. Maybe it never even really existed at all, if the cast was to be believed. But that didn't stop people from asking about it.
22. SJP Cleared The Air
In October 2016, SJP went on Howard Stern, where she talked about the toll the rumors had taken on her over the years. "Was every day perfect? No, but this is a family of people who needed each other. This sort of narrative, this ongoing catfight…it used to really confound me and really upset me."
But little did she know, the rumors were not behind her. The feud was about to really kick into high gear. Why? Simple: The third SATC movie was in development.
23. The Third Movie Almost Happened
As I'm sure you all know, there never was a third SATC movie. But a lot of fans don't realize just how close it was to happening. Warner Bros. had given the project a green light, and the movie was mere days from beginning filming when the whole thing got the axe.
So what happened? Two words: Kim. Cattrall.
24. Kim Made Big Demands
According to a report from the Daily Mail, Warner Bros. canceled production because of Kim Cattrall's outrageous demands, which included an agreement that the studio would produce the other movies she wanted to develop. They said no, she refused to appear in the movie, and the studio decided they didn't want to make a movie with only three of the four main characters. That would have been crazy, right???
25. Kim Denied The Rumors
If you expected Cattrall to stay quiet about this, you haven't been paying attention. When asked about the report, she stated that the only "demand" she ever made was demanding to not do the movie. From her side, she says she was never interested, and any reports to the contrary are bogus.
SATC 3 was officially dead. How did SJP feel about it?
26. SJP Wouldn't Stoop
Sarah Jessica Parker didn't throw Cattrall under the bus—through this whole saga that has never been her style—but she did give one quote that fans took as a teensy bit passive-aggressive...
27. She Got A Little Passive Aggressive
SJP was the one to confirm that the third movie wouldn't happen: "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 I think more so for that audience that has been so vocal about wanting another movie."
This was the spark the feud had been waiting for. It was about to get crazier than ever.
28. Kim Said They Were Never Friends
With the cancellation of SATC 3 all over the news, reporters flocked to Cattrall for more dirt—and she didn't disappoint. An interviewer asked if she was friends with her co-stars. Up to this point, she had always downplayed the feud, but that time was over. Her answer was blunt. She said they'd "never been friends."
Then, for the first time, despite all her protestations that the feud was bogus, Cattrall set her sights directly on SJP.
29. SJP Could Have Been Nicer
Kim Cattrall went on Piers Morgan's show to talk about SATC, and she stopped being diplomatic. "This is really where I take to task the people from Sex And The City, and specifically Sarah Jessica Parker. I think she could've been nicer...I don't know what her issue is."
There was no doubting it now: The beef was no media fabrication. So how did Parker take that interview?
30. SJP Was Heartbroken
When asked about Cattrall's comments, SJP replied that she felt, "heartbroken. The whole week…I was really, I found it very upsetting because that's not the way I recall our experience." But it was too late to pretend the feud wasn't real. Now, all the stories from the last two decades started coming out.
31. The Other Three Excluded Cattrall
In 2017, the New York Post published an article claiming that Parker, Davis, and Nixon had formed a group on the set of the show and specifically left Cattrall out of it. Sure, we'd heard that kind of thing before. But this time, they had receipts.
32. They Got A House Without Her
The Post revealed that once, back when the show was still in production, they shot for several days in Atlantic City. Davis rented a house nearby, and Parker and Nixon stayed with her for the duration of the shoot. Cattrall was not invited.
33. HBO Tried To Kill The Rumor
HBO tried to squash that story back when it first happened. They claimed that the only reason Cattrall didn't stay with the other stars was that her husband was supposed to join her on the trip. He dropped out at the last second, but everyone had already made their arrangements. It certainly sounded plausible back then, before anything had come out. Now...we're not so sure.
34. They Stopped Speaking While The Show Was Still On
For years, all of the cast members denied that there was anything going on and claimed they all liked one another. Now it sure seems like they were just flat-out lying. According to one source close to the show, by the end of the series—before either of the movies had even happened—none of the other leads were speaking to Cattrall.
35. SJP Still Stayed Above It
Throughout the whole feud, all anyone wanted was for SJP to sling some mud Cattrall's way, but she never took the bait. When Ellen asked her if another movie could happen without Cattrall, her answer was characteristically coy: "I think there's a period of grief, a mourning process, and then perhaps we'll consider, say for instance, you playing Samantha."
At least she could keep a light heart with everything that had happened. Unfortunately, the beef was about to take its ugliest turn yet.
36. SJP Offered Her Condolences
It all began with a terrible tragedy. Cattrall's brother was found dead in 2018. Support poured in from across the internet, and her old co-star took to Instagram to offer her condolences. SJP commented, "Dearest Kim, my love and condolences to you and yours and Godspeed to your beloved brother. Xx." on Cattrall's post.
37. She Felt She Had To Reach Out
Many were surprised that SJP commented at all. Their feud was public knowledge at this point, but Parker said, "If somebody in your life, whether you're in touch with them or not, [is] suffering for any reason, it's involuntary that you want to convey condolences or sadness or just let someone know you're thinking about them." She had also apparently contacted Cattrall personally when she heard her brother was missing.
Well, apparently, Cattrall did not agree. Clearly, she was going through a lot—but no one expected her brutal response.
38. Kim Didn't Her Condolences
February 10, 2018. That is the date that Sarah Jessica Parker vs. Kim Cattrall officially reached the ranks of Hollywood's greatest feuds. The image was a simple background with plain black text: "I don't need your love or support at this tragic time @sarahjessicaparker."
The caption was even more ruthless.
39. Kim Had Had Enough
Cattrall expanded in her caption: "My Mom asked me today 'When will that @sarahjessicaparker, that hypocrite, leave you alone?' Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now. 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."
The post left the entire SATC fandom in shock—but no one more so that the three other leads.
40. It Was Worse Than Ever
Apparently, even Cattrall's friends agreed that her post was a little harsh. One told US Weekly, "Their costars can’t understand why Kim lashed out. It wasn’t this bad during filming. There’s no love there, but Sarah Jessica was just being polite. It’s sad."
Clearly, Cattrall was in mourning and emotional—but for many close to the show, this was a step too far. People started taking sides, and I bet you can guess which side most of them took.
41. Smith Was Team Carrie
The weeks following THAT post saw basically everyone who'd ever been involved in the show sounding off. On-screen, Jason Lewis played one of Samantha's many hunky boyfriends, but off-screen, he was Team Carrie all the way: "Listen, I have to say that Sarah was always just so lovely and such a consummate professional and I think that people should remember their graciousness and the things that have been given to them."
But what did he have to say about Kim?
42. He Had Nothing Good To Say
So how did Lewis follow up his complimentary words on SJP? "I'm going to stop there. Because I've got nothing good to say." Uh oh, things aren't looking good for Team Samantha...
43. Kim Was Done
Just because the world was against her didn't mean Cattrall was about to back down. When asked about stepping away from the show for good, she said, "...I loved Sex and the City. It was a blessing in so many ways, but after the second movie I'd had enough. I couldn't understand why they wouldn't just replace me with another actress instead of wasting time bullying. No means no."
Would she ever stop stirring the pot? Well, in 2019, she implied she was finally hanging up the spoon for good.
44. Kim Wants You To Google It
I get it: 20 years of being asked about this, I'd get tired of talking about it too. When pushed to comment on the drama once again, Cattrall just threw up her hands and said, "Everything is on Google, so I encourage you to Google it, about anything that I’ve said. I feel that that was then, and when I look at what’s going on around me, I just don’t have any regrets."
45. SJP STILL Wouldn't Throw Shade
So, now that all the cards were on the table, would SJP finally drop the act and get in the mud with Cattrall? Hardly. When asked if she disliked her former co-star, she simply said, "No. I don’t dislike her. I’ve never said that. Never would. Samantha isn’t part of this story. But she will always be part of us. No matter where we are or what we do.”
But wait...what's that? News of a reunion? A new show on HBO? How the heck was that going to work?
46. They Got Rid Of Samantha
Recasting Samantha was not an option, so the show's producers came up with a simple solution: "The friends that you have when you’re 30, you may not have when you’re 50. Just as in real life, people come into your life, people leave." I...gueeess that's true, so fine.
But as the premiere approached, everyone had to know: How would they get rid of Samantha?
(WARNING: AND JUST LIKE THAT... SPOILERS AHEAD)
47. She Just...Left?
Samantha Jones was one of the most iconic characters in TV history, so how was HBO going to handle the delicate task of writing her out of the show? Well, it turns out that Samantha...moved to London. But she could still contact them, right?? Nope, she just stopped returning the other three stars' messages.
Presto-changeo, no more Samantha!
48. Samantha And Carrie Made Up...Off-Screen
That couldn't be the last we heard of Samantha! Of course not! In the season finale of And Just Like That... Carrie and Samantha finally made up...via text...off-camera. The television event of the century!
49. The Fans Want Samantha
With Carrie and Samantha's reconciliation (sort of) on the books, everyone was wondering: Was there any way we might see Samantha in season 2? If you've read this far, you probably know that's NOT happening, but people asked SJP anyway—and, for the first time ever, she almost said something that you might take as shade...
50. SJP Doesn't Want Kim Around
Variety asked SJP if she'd be willing to have Cattrall appear on And Just Like That..., and she finally dropped the act that everything was OK: "I don’t think I would, because I think there’s just too much public history of feelings on her part that she’s shared...I haven’t participated in or read articles, although people are inclined to let me know.”
51. Samantha Ain't Coming Back
Fans just want a little hope they might see Samantha again, but it just doesn't look like it's happening. Producer Michael Patrick King gave the final word on the matter: "Magically thinking, it’s great to have Samantha. I have no realistic expectation of Kim Cattrall ever appearing again."
And just like that...we've covered the feud up to this point. Will it flare up again? All I can say is: I sure hope so.