Kristin Davis on Tuning Out Internet Trolls and Dealing With the 'Hyper Scrutiny' of Hollywood (Exclusive)

The 'And Just Like That...' actress, 58, says aging — and aid work (she recently visited Moldova to meet with Ukrainian refugees) — give her perspective and a sense of 'balance'

Kristin Davis and her Sex and the City costars Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon knew they still had something to say when they signed on for the series revival And Just Like That... "Just because we're in our 50s doesn't mean we don't have important stories to tell," says Davis, 58.

Those stories connected with fans, and the series was recently picked up for a third season, but what Davis didn't entirely expect was the level of "hyper scrutiny" on the actresses who returned as Charlotte, Carrie and Miranda nearly two decades later — and two decades older. "We we were like, 'It's okay. It'll be fine,'" Davis says. "Well, it's one thing to think about it. Then you get there and you're like, 'Oh, gosh. This is so intense.'"

But age has also brought perspective, she says. "When you get older you're like 'What makes me happy? How am I enriched or can I enrich someone else?' You're thinking in a deeper way, and I love that part of aging," she says. "As you grow older, you think about those things more and it balances out the kind of hyper-focus on what you look like."

Related: Kristin Davis Talks Body Shaming in Hollywood, Says She Felt Out of Place Among 'Stick-Skinny Women'

Davis says as she's grown older, she's also become "more choosy about how I spend my time. I have two kids [Gemma Rose, whom she adopted in 2011, and Wilson, whom she adopted in 2018] so everything is filtered through how much time I have separate from them, which isn't a lot, but I only do something if it's really important to me and is going to contribute to the world."

One of those things important to her is the advocacy work she does as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. "It's very grounding for me," Davis says of the trips she takes for the organization and the experience of meeting refugees. "It's not about how you look, or what your last project was, it's about what you're actually doing and who you are."

On her most recent trip for the UNHCR earlier this month Davis traveled to Moldova, where she met Ukrainian refugees who were forced to flee the war in their country. "One 20-year-old we met, Angelina, was telling us that a missile fell and killed her father right in front of her. She couldn't come to terms with how to think about the world," Davis says. "You hear these stories from people and there could be nothing further from my mind than people's opinion of my face on Instagram."

Related: Ukrainian Family's Daring Escape and How They Found Refuge with a Family in Utah

As part of the visit, which included meeting with Moldovan president Maia Sandu, Davis sat in on a yoga class for Ukrainian refugees in a center set up by the Moldovan community to help vulnerable women and children. Moldova, a country of just 2.7 million that shares a border with Ukraine, has had more than 900,000 Ukrainian refugees pass through and about 117,000 who have settled there.

"It's a beautiful country but it's not like Moldova is a rich country with a lot of resources to spare," Davis says. "The Ukrainian refugees are coming across the border in a state of shock, having to flee their homes, and a large number of people in Moldova drove to the border in their own cars to pick them up. They have been very, very warm and welcoming."

Related: 8 Million Refugees Believed to Have Fled Ukraine Since Start of War, Says United Nations

In the yoga class, taught by an instructor who is also a Ukrainian refugee, "you could tell the change in each of the women who had come to that class," Davis says. "They can't go home and they all basically are suffering from PTSD. They've had to really try to find ways to help their mental health. Yoga is a powerful tool to help them deal with what they are going through."

Davis knows from personal experience how restorative yoga can be. Before she got her breakout role on Melrose Place in 1995, she took yoga classes and then taught the practice herself. "It was part of what helped me get through, stay grounded and not go crazy with all the rejection and insanity that our business can bring," she says

Davis says she returned home from her trip "so inspired by the people and their strength. These women I met are the strongest force. I was blown away."

To donate to the UNHCR, which provides emergency aid to refugees worldwide and helps them settle in a safe place, click here.

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