Kim Cattrall: People always said to me “You play a gay man,” and I'd say, “Well, I’m having a fabulous time doing it!”—without the difficult things about being gay in America, or especially in someplace like Russia. I was just in Russia and it’s a crime to be gay. So actually I’m very thankful for our gay following. I think our gay sensibility has really given the show so much more than I thought was in there to begin with, because of that fun and panache and crazy, zany stuff… I mean, that whole storyline we had with the trannies was just fabulous. Where would you see something like that?

Kristin Davis: When the gay community embraced the show, we were thrilled. Who wouldn’t be thrilled? You’re not the easiest group in the world to please. And also, we’re all Manhattan theater people, so to us that seemed normal.

Sarah Jessica Parker: To me, I’m from New York City and I grew up in the world of theater, so I just always think that the gay community is part of culture. To me… It’s a natural progression of creating art or culture and entertainment, that gay people are a part of it. And obviously it’s a show about women in a city that has a large gay community, so yeah, it’s a natural. But I will say it became clear to us early on that they were a committed audience. Certainly before straight white men. Definitely, definitely.

Cattrall: I always hoped the show would be loved by a gay audience, because then you will live forever! [Laughs.]

Cynthia Nixon, who came out as a lesbian during the run of the show's final season, talked about fan reaction to her personal life: It’s funny, when I announced and said, “Yes I'm dating a woman,” it freaked people out a lot. I think people have a hard time separating us from our characters. So people were like, “Miranda is GAY!???” And there were all these crazy things I would read in the paper, like “…but Miranda kissed a girl and she didn't like it. And Samantha’ s had a lesbian lover, shouldn’t she be the one?” And another freaky thing was because our characters are seen as so iconic, it was also viewed as maybe like, “Hmmm, is this is a trend?” Like, maybe this is what happens to these women, who are out there and dating a lot of men. Eventually they start dating women, that's what happens. This is where Sex and the City takes you! Miranda dated too many men and, well, whatta you know? Now, this.