Kim Cattrall Says She Chose Not to Have Children Because of Sex and the City's Busy Shooting Schedule

Kim Cattrall says she prioritized her role as Samantha on Sex and the City over having children.

The actress, 61, opened up about having considered motherhood during an appearance on Monday’s episode of Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, saying that after she got married to her third husband Mark Levinson in 1998, she thought about starting IVF treatments but decided against it because of the hectic shooting schedule for SATC — which premiered that June.

“I thought to myself, ‘Wow, I have 19-hour days on this series. … My Monday morning would start at 4:45 a.m. and go to one or two in the morning. How could I possibly continue to do that, especially in my early 40s?’ ” she said. “And then I realized what a commitment it was just to the [IVF] procedures.”

“I thought, ‘I don’t think it is going to happen.’ It was the first moment — it was extraordinary — in my life where I thought, ‘Maybe I’m just not going to do this,’” she added.

Asked whether she feels maternal, Cattrall replied, “Yes, I think it’s part of being a woman to have that. But obviously fate, timing, luck, destiny, I don’t know.”

That instinct inspired her to mentor young actresses.

“I thought I have a place to be a mom here, not a biological mom but a mom and an auntie and a friend. And that has really given me so much, as much as I give I get two-fold back,” she continued.

Also in the interview, Cattrall said that she was “never friends” with her SATC costars. “We’ve never been friends,” she said. “We’ve been colleagues and in some way, it’s a very healthy place to be.”

The actress addressed reports that her demands led studio Warner Bros. to kill Sex and the City 3, which she called “ridiculous.”

“I never asked for any money,” Cattrall said. “I never asked for any projects, to be thought of as some kind of diva is absolutely ridiculous.”

However, sources have told PEOPLE that Cattrall made “outrageous demands” to re-board the movie franchise.

Cattrall “was dragging her feet all summer and cast and crew members had put their lives on hold to get ready to shoot the movie,” said one source. “Then when she made outrageous demands, the studio had enough and pulled the plug. Her demand for them to buy her films in development and to give her a TV deal are what broke the camel’s back for them.”

Rumors that Samantha (Cattrall), Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) were reuniting for a new film — which would follow 2008’s Sex and the City and 2010’s Sex and the City 2 — had long swirled, with fans hoping to see the fierce foursome reunited again.

But after almost eight years of encouraging words from actors, Parker told Extra on Sept. 28 that any possibility of a third movie is officially “over.”

As previously reported, Cattrall also called out Parker — who would have been a producer on the film — while appearing on the ITV series.

“And this is really where I take to task the people from Sex and the City and specifically Sarah Jessica Parker in that I think she could have been nicer,” she said in previously released footage from the sit-down.

The interview airs in its entirety on Monday night in the United Kingdom.