*Sex And The City *star Kim Cattrall has made headlines this week for her comments about motherhood – because in spite of not having children herself, she says she still considers herself a 'mother'.
'I am not a biological parent but I am a parent,' she said to BBC Radio 4, when she appeared as part of the station's Woman's Hour Takeover Week as guest editor on Monday. 'I have actors and actresses that I mentor. I have nieces and nephews that I am very close to. There is a way to become a mother in this day and age that doesn't include your name on the child's birth certificate.'
The 59-year-old actress went on to say how she also takes umbrage to the word 'childless'. 'It's the 'less' that is offensive,' she explained. ''Childless'. It sounds like you're 'less' because you haven't had a child.'
Talking further about the issue, Cattrall commented: 'I think for a lot of women from my generation it wasn't a conscious choice. It was a feeling of, 'Well, I'm on this road and things are going really well, I'm really happy, I'll do it next year, I'll do it two years, I'll do it in five years'.
'And then suddenly you're in your early 40s and you think, 'Maybe now?' And you go to your doctor and she says, 'Yes we can do this but you have to start to become a bit of a science experiment here because we have to find out how you can stay pregnant'.
'And I just thought, 'I don't know if I want it that much'.'
Whilst the star has been married three times, she is currently single, and also claimed she now considers herself 'romantically retired'. That said, she also admitted men would probably find it difficult to ask her out; when Woman's Hour host Jane Garvey asked how easy it might be, Cattrall replied: 'I would say it's pretty impossible.'
Since the interview aired, Cattrall's comments have received buckets of positive feedback, and the actress has been praised for tackling the issue so publicly. 'It’s a conversation that’s not going anywhere for women soon,' Nina Steele wrote in The Telegraph, 'and one we need to get as good as Kim at having.'
With Cattrall as its spokesperson, we're almost certain it'll catch on.