Cynthia Nixon says early Sex and the City critics called the girls ‘gay men in disguise’
"People hated us at first" the star said on the red carpet at the 90th Annual Drama League Awards
Cynthia Nixon has said early critics of her seminal TV show Sex and the City originally dismissed the core characters as “gay men in disguise.”
The show, which explored the busy sex lives of four single 30-something women in New York City, was written by gay men Darren Star and Michael Patrick King.
Launching in a different climate on HBO in 1998, the show itself has since been retrospectively criticised for its reductive LGBTQ stereotypes – much, it seems, like its critics at the time.
“People hated us at first” – Cynthia Nixon
Speaking in an interview with Page Six, Ratched star Cynthia recently said: “People have always been very passionate about Sex and the City and now And Just Like That.”
Appearing on the red carpet at the 90th Annual Drama League Awards last Friday [17 May 2024], the 58-year-old went on: “I feel like Sex and the City is now so enshrined in memory and sentimentality but people hated us at first.
“They kept saying over and over: ‘These aren’t really women, these are gay men in disguise. Women don’t talk like this. Women don’t talk about sex like this.'”
Sex and the City starred Cynthia alongside Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Sarah Jessica-Parker as Miranda, Samantha, Charlotte and Carrie, respectively.
Speaking of SATC spin-off And Just Like That…, in which her character came out as queer, Cynthia went on: “I think that’s what’s so great about And Just Like That… We keep pushing the boundaries.
“We’re not going to do the same old stuff that was once shocking that you’ve now got used to.”
Season three of And Just Like That is due to air sometime in 2025.