How has your husband reacted to your becoming so famous for playing this wild Manhattan fashion icon?
[Laughs.] He's always been one of those men who is incredibly proud when their partner does well. He has zero jealousy or envy. Matthew always used to joke when he did interviews about how his career was tanking while mine was going so well. Now, of course, his work is going incredibly well and doing The Producers has made him the talk of the town. So there's been this interesting symmetry to our career fortunes.
Did he ever confuse you with Carrie?
No, never. It was always a source of amusement to him that I was playing this sexually predatory, occasionally fearless New York girl, when he knows that I'm basically shy and conservative and more subdued in my personality.
In recent interviews you and Matthew gave on American TV, you seemed to have a lot of fun talking about his ability to make everyone, including you, take care of him...
Oh, Matthew is a master at making himself appear a bit downtrodden and in need of help. He knows exactly how to get people to do everything for him. And the brilliant thing about it is that his charm is so pervasive that he pulls it off so effortlessly that you never realise he's secretly manipulating you to buy the groceries, answer his mail, make dinner reservations and get his dry-cleaning. He doesn't even bother to try to hail a cab when we're out on the town together. He just assumes I'll be out there in the middle of traffic waving frantically for a cab! [Laughs.] And he pretends to be so lovably innocent that you can't even get annoyed with him. He just gives you this blissful smile and you're hooked!
What's the best thing or the thing which makes your marriage work when so many celebrity couples tend to crash and burn?
There's this closeness and supportive feeling between us that's hard to explain. I guess we don't make things difficult for each other, even when there are the usual kinds of stressful situations that couples have to deal with. Matthew also has a very good sense of humour and relaxed nature that calms me down a lot. If I'm tense or worried, he just knows how to smile and make me laugh. That doesn't sound like a lot, but somehow that's the kind of thing that makes me love him so much.
Although he's very successful and in the news these days, there was a time when your career seemed to overshadow his. Did either of you ever worry about that or think that it might affect your marriage?
No. I've always thought that Matthew was an incredibly gifted actor who could do it all - film, TV, theatre. He can sing and dance on Broadway and go right from that into a film and there aren't that many actors who can claim that kind of flexibility. He loves what he's doing and probably he's going to have a chance at a lot more films because of the huge wave of success that The Producers has had. I'm very happy for him and our individual career ups and downs have never entered into our minds in terms of how we value our time together. Even when all the hype about Sex And The City was going on, he was never once the least bit envious. He was so happy for me, even when it kind of made us the target of paparazzi. But you never saw him get mad or say nasty things in the press about getting followed around. He's too cool for that.
The only thing we ever have to worry about is how we schedule our work and make time for ourselves. But that's an issue every working couple deals with and now that I'm not doing Sex And The City, things are much easier on that front.
You've been signed by GAP to do a big advertising campaign. Is that a satisfying extension of your post-Sex And The City fashion acumen?
Yes. GAP came up with some interesting ideas for me to be part of its Fall campaign and I thought it would be something people wouldn't feel like I'm shamelessly ripping off my Carrie image, but a fun way of referencing that.
What's ahead for you now? Movies, TV, theatre?
I have a few interesting film projects in the works, which I can't say very much about right now. I'm also working on a book idea I've had a while brewing in my head about an actress who's offered a chance at a comeback and is kind of ruthless in pursuing that. So I'll have to see where all that takes me.
What about another TV series?
(Laughs) Not for a long, long, long while!
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