Sarah Jessica Parker has paid tribute to her Sex And The City co-star Willie Garson, saying she feels like “a scoop has been taken out of her” following his death.
The actor was a fan favourite on the series for his portrayal of flamboyant talent agent Stanford Blatch, a close friend of Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw.
He died aged 57 in September, following a battle with cancer, days after George Malkemus, Parker’s partner in her SJP shoe line, also died of cancer.
Parker had previously said she was “not ready” to address the loss of Garson.
Speaking to Vogue in the aftermath of the deaths, Parker said: “All I can say right now is that it’s as if a scoop has been taken out of me this week, and I don’t expect it to be filled.
“In time, my body will grow accustomed to this new architecture, but now I feel truly blue.
“It’s such a loss, and I think about how I’ll miss the joy of these relationships.
“I think about Willie and the show and how much we laughed.
“And I guess despite everything, that’s the headline: There’s so much good in the world, and we were all so lucky to be together, doing something we loved.”
Garson will appear alongside Parker in the Sex And The City reboot And Just Like That … which will arrive on screens later this year.
It will feature the original cast, minus Kim Cattrall, who played Samantha Jones, and Parker hit back at critics who questioned why a show would be made about women who are now in their 50s.
With an unforgettable role, Sarah Jessica Parker (@SJP) defined a way of being glamorous, fallible, and lovable all at once. And just like that, she’s ready to do it all over again. https://t.co/UWrz4XF7J0 pic.twitter.com/BWUAxkHBVl
— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) November 7, 2021
She said: “There’s so much misogynist chatter in response to us that would never. Happen. About. A. Man.
“‘Grey hair grey hair grey hair. Does she have grey hair?’ I’m sitting with Andy Cohen (the US TV presenter) and he has a full head of grey hair, and he’s exquisite. Why is it OK for him?
“I don’t know what to tell you people! Especially on social media. Everyone has something to say. ‘She has too many wrinkles, she doesn’t have enough wrinkles’.
“It almost feels as if people don’t want us to be perfectly OK with where we are, as if they almost enjoy us being pained by who we are today, whether we choose to age naturally and not look perfect, or whether you do something if that makes you feel better.
“I know what I look like. I have no choice. What am I going to do about it? Stop aging? Disappear?”
Parker also addressed the lack of diversity in the original run of the show and the addition of new cast members for the reboot, including black actors Nicole Ari Parker and Karen Pittman, and Sara Ramirez, who is Mexican American and nonbinary, as well as Sarita Choudhury, who is of English and Bengali-Indian descent.
She said: “In no way were we interested in tokenism.
“You can’t bring people on the show and not let the camera be with them! These characters are all gifts to us.”