Kim Cattrall Says Her Mother's 'Spirit' amid Unhappy Jobs Was Key in 'Teaching Me to Defend Myself'

The 'Sex and the City' alum shared that she is "thankful" to her mother for showing her to "not allow others to control" her narrative

Kim Cattrall is opening up about lessons she learned from her late mother Shane.

The Sex and the City alum, 67, shared that Shane — who died in December 2022 at the age of 93 — continues to serve as inspiration for her to stand up for herself.

“For me, a woman in her 60s, I think that the biggest challenge is to keep being relevant, to keep working, to have something to say. My idol was always my mother,” she told Vogue Greece in an interview, which was translated in English to PEOPLE by Cattrall's rep. “Even though she could never connect to a job that made her happy, and she was depressed and alone for long periods of time, she never lost her spirit."

“That’s something she passed on to me,” Cattrall continued. “I am thankful to her for teaching me to defend myself and not allow others to control my narrative. That is a very important lesson for young women.”

Related: Kim Cattrall's Sweetest Moment During Her 'AJLT' Cameo with Sarah Jessica Parker Was Improvised

Prior to Cattrall making a cameo appearance in last week’s And Just Like That... season 2 finale, she took a public stance on not reprising her fan-favorite role of Samantha Jones.

The actress expressed her feelings in a May 2022 interview with Variety about not wanting to be part of the Sex and the City reboot, in part because she didn’t like her character’s plotline in the never-produced third Sex and the City movie, and because the storyline for And Just Like That… resembled “basically the third movie,” which also included plots like the death of Carrie’s husband Big (Chris Noth).

"I also didn’t want to compromise what the show was to me," she said at the time. "The way forward seemed clear.”

In 2017, Cattrall tweeted that she'd decided a year before that she "didn't want" to do a third SATC film and was finished playing Samantha when she expressed dissatisfaction with the third Sex and the City film script. Her decision not to participate led to a public fallout with Parker. When And Just Like That… showrunner Michael Patrick King and Parker decided to create a Sex and the City reboot, Cattrall was not asked to reprise Samantha.

Related: Kim Cattrall Looks Regal in 67th Birthday Post About Manifesting Ahead of 'AJLT' Cameo

“I was never asked to be part of the reboot,” she told Variety. “I made my feelings clear after the possible third movie, so I found out about it like everyone else did — on social media.”

Parker, for her part, confirmed this was the case in 2022 during an interview on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast.

"She made it clear that that wasn't something she wanted to pursue, and it no longer felt comfortable for us, and so it didn't occur to us," Parker said. "That's not 'slamming' her, it's just learning. You've got to listen to somebody, and if they're publicly talking about something and it doesn't suggest it's some place they want to be, or a person they want to play, or an environment in which they want to be, you get to an age where you're like, 'Well, we hear that.' "

But Cattrall’s resistance to reprising her memorable role likely also stems from her personal feelings for Parker during production of Sex and the City.

Related: Kim Cattrall, 66, Says She’s Open to Botox and Fillers to Battle Aging in ‘Every Way I Can’

“This is where I take to task the people from Sex and the City and specifically Sarah Jessica Parker — is that I think she could have been nicer,” the actress told Piers Morgan in 2017.

She also added that she, Parker, Nixon and Davis were all “never friends” during the same interview.

Cattrall finally broke her pledge to leave Samantha in the past when she allegedly received a call from the “head of HBO saying, ‘What can we do?’” with regards to appearing on And Just Like That…

One of those demands included bringing back longtime friend and original Sex and the City costume designer Patricia Field, who is not working on And Just Like That…

"I just thought that if I’m going to come back, I’m going to come back with that kind of Samantha style," she told The View in June. "I’ve got to push it. And we did.”

According to Variety, Cattrall filmed the cameo on March 22 in New York City. She did her scene “without seeing or speaking with the stars of the series,” including Parker, Nixon and Davis, and she reportedly didn't interact with King.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

And Just Like That... seasons 1 and 2 are streaming in full on Max.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.