Before all that Sarah Jessica Parker feud stuff reared its ugly head, actress Kim Cattrall was frequently in the headlines for being an advocate for things that mattered to women. She spoke up when continually asked why she never had children - and rightly said she was sick of being labelled "childless."
"I am not a biological parent, but I am a parent," she explained. "I have nieces and nephews that I am very close to. There is a way to become a mother in this day and age which doesn't include your name on the child's birth certificate. You can express that maternal side, very clearly, very strongly."
She also spoke up about the need for self-care when a bout of chronic insomnia caused her to re-evaluate her entire life. She may work in Hollywood but she's always seemed hugely relatable and down-to-earth.
She has always spoken with an eloquence and grace, so it should come as no surprise when she revealed to Stylist that she has mentored young actors and actresses for at least 15 years, saying that it was hugely important to her to offer her support to younger people in the industry, particularly young women.
"[My goal is to] instil in them [the need to] stand up for themselves, but also to understand that the industry needs to be changed. So it’s kind of being the mum that I wasn’t biologically,” she told Stylist.
“It’s very informal," she explained of her mentoring process. "[It's] usually it’s young actresses that I work with, or I also mentor a young producer in New York. It’s just about having somebody to check in with. It can be as simple as that, or somebody to just have a coffee with, or someone to write an email or text saying ‘yikes, time out for me, I don’t know what to do. What do you think?’”
And while the Sex and the City star says she will never have all the answers, she does stress both the importance of living in the moment - and having a long-term plan in life. “Sometimes I don’t have an answer, I have maybe four more questions. So we talk about a plan. You know, it’s good to live in the moment and address what’s right in front of you, but again I think with longevity you have to have a plan, not just for your career but for your life.”
In this era of #MeToo, empathic acts such as this never go unnoticed, particularly when young women, empowered as they may be from this bold movement, may still feel very vulnerable in Hollywood - and everywhere else - as the tides turn.
"It’s a very fine line, I have found, for women to stand up for themselves, whether it’s in a male-dominated or a female-dominated situation," she continued. "I think there can be a lot of fear related to that."
"But you have a right to be happy, you have a right to be heard.”
We couldn't agree more.
