Sex And The City star Kim Cattrall has made headlines this week for her comments about motherhood – because in spite of not having children herself, she says she still considers herself a “mother“.
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The “Sex and the City” has never given birth or adopted a child but insists that she is still a parent.
She explained that’s because she’s a mentor to young actors and actresses and is close with her nieces and nephews.
But Cattrall doesn’t care what you think, and furthermore, she bristles at being described as “childless”.
True to that character, the most durable of Cattrall’s relationships appear to be her female friendships. “I find the women who are single that I know who are my age are much more feeling, I’d rather be alone and have friends, and if something happens for a period of time, it doesn’t have to be forever…” I am not just childless but happily so, and have come too far in my journey to let a word come in the way of the peace that I feel inside. You didn’t really experience that.’ I did have three kidney stone attacks, and they say that’s the closet thing to childbirth.
Cattrall spoke about the issue during an appearance on BBC Radio, adding that you can express your maternal side without your name being on the birth certificate. You solely have to match the very public tick-tocking of Jennifer Aniston’s organic clock with the scant point out of to see this blatant double commonplace in motion. It feels very satisfying’.
I have seen, first-hand, in my work with elderly people, that having children is no insurance against loneliness in old age.
Cattrall’s inclusive view of motherhood wasn’t the only thing she revealed in the interview that’s sparked controversy.
Cattrall seems to be the logical choice to be a vehicle for this new movement. More fundamentally, the question assumed that there was only one proper way for a woman to live.
As an aunt to 11 and nieces (and counting) I can attest that there are lots of occasions when you’ll be able to – whether or not materials or immaterial – that their mother and father can’t.
Kim feels strongly that we should ditch the “less” from “childless” and find other, more positive ways of referring to women.
I like the Woman’s Hour Takeover, in which guests from different backgrounds make presenters and producers temporarily redundant by commissioning their own stories and setting their own agenda. When my husband, Mark, and I wrote our book, the time, energy, and love we put into it felt very much like parenting.
On the show, Kim admitted that she never directly chose to not start a family.
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“I am not a biological parent, but I am a parent”.
