Kristin Davis reveals why early SATC sex scenes made her feel ‘scared’

Kristin Davis has revealed her discomfort filming sex scenes during the early days of Sex and the City.

The actress, 59, who debuted as Charlotte York in the show’s first season in 1998, said she ‘did not feel protected’ as she depicted bedroom scenes without the help of intimacy coordinators. 

Speaking to People, the star said: ‘I had to hide in my dressing room at the end of the scenario. I had to hide in my dressing room and call my manager in L.A, at two in the morning.’

“All of that was kind of vague,” she explains. “I also feel like we didn’t talk about it as a group in a way that would’ve been helping and would’ve happened now. Like, if there’d been intimacy coordinators and all that stuff. There would’ve been much more discussion now, but there wasn’t then.” 

“I don’t know how the men would feel watching cause I’m not a man. But it would be more for the male gaze than for the female gaze,” she says of filming the scenes. “A female gaze — they don’t wanna see that.” 

Davis said Kim Cattrall, who played maneater Samantha Jones and had the most amount of graphic sex scenes – was ‘fearless and could definitely protect herself’ and that Carrie Bradshaw star Sarah Jessica Parker was the ‘most protected’ but felt ‘most uncomfortable’ about onscreen nudity.

Kristin Davis has revealed her discomfort filming sex scenes during the early days of Sex and the City – pictured with show stars Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall and Sarah Jessica Parker 

The actress, 59, who debuted as Charlotte York in the show’s first season in 1998, said she ‘did not feel protected’ as she depicted bedroom scenes without the help of intimacy coordinators – pictured season one

SJP was notably the only star among the four leads to have a no-nudity clause in her contract. 

Davis recalled an interaction with Miranda Hobbes star Cynthia Nixon after she filmed a love scene with David Eigenberg, who portrayed Steve Hobbes. 

She said: ‘Cynthia doesn’t care about anything. Like, I remember one thing she filmed with [David] Eigenberg, and I was like, “Why is he grabbing her breast like that? Why didn’t someone tell him to do it?”

‘I was like, ‘Tell him to do it more nicely’ And she was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I was like, ‘Who was protecting you there?’ She’s like, ‘No one.'”

Davis said the sex scenes became more comfortable over time with the cast having more input.

This comes after Davis revealed the paltry amount she was offered for the Sex and the City pilot.

The actress said she was given a $5000 offer to be a ‘recurring character’ on the now iconic HBO series.

Speaking on the debut episode of her podcast, the star said it threw her into jeopardy after she was suddenly offered a new contract while filming the pilot alongside fellow stars Parker, Kim Cattrall and Cynthia Nixon.

Davis said Kim Cattrall, who played maneater Samantha Jones and had the most amount of graphic sex scenes – was ‘fearless and could definitely protect herself’ – pictured season six with Jason Lewis as Smith Jerrod

Carrie Bradshaw star Sarah Jessica Parker was the ‘most protected’ but felt ‘most uncomfortable’ about onscreen nudity – pictured with Chris Noth as Mr Big 

She said: ‘Cynthia doesn’t care about anything. Like, I remember one thing she filmed with [David] Eigenberg, and I was like, “Why is he grabbing her breast like that? Why didn’t someone tell him to do it?”

She said: ‘I was never a fan of the pilot. It didn’t seem smooth. It seemed kind of choppy and hectic. But I also feel my personal theory on pilots in general is that if they’re too good — if the pilot is too formed — the show might not be good.

‘One day, I’m in my trailer and she [a producer] knocks on my door and I opened it and she says, “Oh, well, we have this paperwork we need you to fill out.”

‘And I was like, “OK.” I take the paperwork and I look at it and it seems to be a new contract, but it’s only two pages long, and I’m like, “What is this?” And it says, “You will be a recurring character and you will be paid $5,000.”’

Davis said she had immediately called her lawyer who told her not to sign, adding: ‘I know that the pilot’s costing a lot and that they’re stressed at HBO about it. I think the pilot cost like $2.5 million roughly, which at the time was a lot because no one really filmed in Manhattan.’

She said series creator Darren Star hadn’t said anything to her about a new contract at the time either.

‘So I thought, “Well, if Darren’s not saying anything to me about it, then everything must be okay,”’ 

‘I don’t know. I was scared. But it was also very clear from the book and from the script and from the pilot that Charlotte’s point of view was a different point of view than the other girls.’

Davis said the sex scenes became more comfortable over time with the cast having more input – the star is seen topless in And Just Like That season two  

Kristin, Cynthia, Sarah and Kim all starred in Sex & The City from 1998 to 2004 and it became a critical and commercial success – spawning two films.

Kristin, Cynthia and Sarah reprised their roles for the reboot of the series – called And Just Like That… – with Kim opting to not be in it.

Kim ended up briefly reprising her role in And Just Like That during the season two finale and season three is set to air this year.