kim Cattrall: “At 60 I’m better than ever!”
Sex And The City star Kim Cattrall tells Closer how reaching the milestone age hasn’t fazed her and why she’ll never marry again
ischievous, outspoken and M “try-sexual” Samantha Jones stole the show in US romantic comedy Sex And The City – and now, unbelievably, the actress behind the fictional minx, Kim Cattrall, is celebrating her 60th birthday this week.
Stunning Kim looks decades younger so it’s difficult to believe she’s reached this milestone, but she reassures Closer that she doesn’t have any hang-ups about it.
“I don’t see turning 60 as a big deal,” says New York-based Kim. “I mean age is just a number and I guess it’s really about how you feel; and I feel great!
“I’ve had this real surge of energy recently. I feel like I’m in the best place I’ve ever been. At 60 I’m going to do whatever I feel like doing. Women are not to be brushed under the carpet these days because they’ve reached a certain age.”
RISE TO STARDOM
Kim found fame with several TV roles, including Starsky and Hutch in 1978, and went on to have mainstream success with films such as Police Academy and Mannequin in the ’80s. But the actress gained global recognition for playing sex-mad Samantha at the age of 41 when the TV series burst on to our screens in 1998 – and even spawned two movies in 2008 and 2010.
However Kim, who has been married three times and even reportedly dated Hollywood legend Bruce Willis in 2003, says she doesn’t
Kim with her late identify with her bestknown
father in 2000 character.
The Liverpool-born actress laughs: “I’m no expert on sex, but I’ve felt under huge pressure in the past to be one because of the characters I’ve played! I’ve been a serial monogamist all of my life and I love to be in a relationship.”
Kim has certainly had a colourful love life. Her first marriage to Canadian writer Larry Davis was annulled in 1979 after only two years. She then went on to marry architect Andreas Lyson in 1982, but they divorced after seven years together. And she was with her third husband, jazz bassist Mark Levinson – with whom she wrote her self-help book on sex – from 1998 to 2004; she has previously said that their marriage suffered because it was “swamped by Sex And The City.”
LESSONS IN LOVE
Although she is currently said to be dating American artist Clifford Ross, Kim has never publicly spoken about their relationship and tells Closer: “I would never marry again. I married when I was very young. I was only 19 when my first marriage was annulled after just two years.
“The thing I have learned is that when you marry someone in your 20s, you are not necessarily the same person when you are 40 or 50 and you don’t always grow together. It is hard that my marriages haven’t worked out, though.
“You think you’re in sync with someone, but then your work or other passions get in the way. And you realise that you were only meant to be together for that time and you cared for that person deeply, but they are going in a different direction to you.”
BEING A MENTOR
And while Kim has her muchloved 18-year-old cat, Kobi, to keep her company, the star insists she doesn’t feel she’s missed out on motherhood. Although she does admit that she gets frustrated with people judging her for not having children.
She says: “To raise a child is a full-time job. And although I don’t have kids of my own it doesn’t mean that as a woman I can’t express my maternal interest and love for children. I don’t feel excluded in that way by not being a biological mum.
“I like the fact that I have the time to mentor a young person or young actor and that is a very parental thing to do. You don’t need to have a legally bound contract to be a parent.”
The star’s beloved father Dennis passed away four years ago following a lengthy battle with dementia – and she admits the loss has had a profound impact on her.
“I don’t have a dreaded fear of dying from dementia but it is there in the back of my mind,” she tells us. “I lost my father to pneumonia a few years ago, but he’d been diagnosed with dementia 20 years beforehand.
“I am very fit and healthy, but when you lose a parent to something like that you
know you need to be aware of it and to take more care of yourself. I am healthy but if these things are going to happen, there is very little you can do about it.”
Now Kim says she’s determined to live life to the full and admits she loves her new hobby of experimenting with dyeing fabrics!
She says: “My friend is a master dyer for Ralph Lauren and he started to show me some of what he was doing with all sorts of fabric. I thought it was an amazingly artistic process, so now I have my own vat and I dip everything in indigo!
“When I have the time, I love watching Orange Is The New Black and I am mildly obsessed with the fourth series. I also really love Peaky Blinders.”
Then she adds with a wink: “I still want to see The Night Manager with Tom Hiddleston as I’ve heard he’s great in it – and he’s easy on the eye, too!”