Sex and the City rocketed Kim Cattrall to TV stardom, and her performance as Samantha Jones earned her a Golden Globe, a SAG Award, and five Emmy nominations. But she originally passed on the Samantha role — four times.

The actor reveals that detail in a new interview with The Times, saying she was 41 at the time and didn’t think TV audiences would find a woman of her age sexy. “Self-inflicted ageism,” she said with a laugh. “Well, that changed — 40 became sexy. It became, ‘Man, let’s have more of that.’”

Cattrall stepped out of Samantha’s heels after Sex and the City’s six seasons on HBO and its two big-screen movies and — amid a public falling-out with former costar Sarah Jessica Parker — did not return for the HBO Max sequel series, And Just Like That…, save for a Season 2 finale cameo. But she spoke highly of the role in the Times interview.

“I created a fantastic character that I loved, and I put a lot of love in it,” she told the newspaper. “And if I’m remembered only for that, then that’s really OK.”

Speaking of Samantha, the self-described “try-sexual” was not a nymphomaniac, Cattrall said. “Well, some people might have thought she was — but she was just enjoying the main course,” she added. “Everyone else was nibbling on the appetizers when she was going for the steak. And it was always on her terms — that I always insisted on.”

As for Samantha’s IRL alter-ego, Cattrall is in many ways the “antithesis” of Samantha, she said. “I’m a serial monogamist, and then some.”

Previously married to writer Larry Davis, architect Andre J. Lyson, and musician Mark Levinson, Cattrall has been in a relationship with former actor Russell Thomas since 2016, when she met him through her work for the BBC Radio 4 show Woman’s Hour.

Cattrall’s post-SATC résumé also includes starring roles in the TV shows Sensitive Skin, Tell Me a Story, Filthy Rich, and Glamorous. Additionally, she recurred on the Queer as Folk reboot and narrated the sitcom How I Met Your Father.