How I said goodbye to Carrie

Film work, she says, is different. Making a film is a finite time commitment and allows for more normality than a TV series. "I think for the most part Matthew and I have made good choices. Our son is loved, he seems well-adjusted and is always with me. I never travel without him."

Parker sounds sensible and smart. She is discreet when talking about her marriage, alternately gushing and practical when she mentions James Wilkie. She attributes this good sense - and, indeed, her lasting marriage - to the fact that she lives in New York City.

"There's not the same spotlight that exists in southern California," she says. "It's a city filled with people who have interesting jobs and lives and there's not the kind of attention, so Matthew and I can have a real life. We work and walk and grocery shop and don't think of ourselves as actors but more as citizens."

Even when talking about the issue of paparazzi harassment, Parker adopts a sanguine approach. "When I walk out of my door, the same sort of rules apply to me as they do to the rest of the community. I don't feel comfortable complaining about it because I think there are real hardships in the world."

I mention a recent news story claiming she is the richest actress in the world, with a fortune of $38 million, and Parker laughs. "Oh brother," she says, shooting a weary glance at her nearby publicist.

"If I had $38 million, you wouldn't have to read about it in New York magazine. I would be the most public philanthropist around. I would brag about the libraries and schools I've saved and the people I'm housing after Hurricane Katrina. No, I do not have $38 million. Do you know how cheap that is going to make me look for ever if I don't tip 70 per cent from now on or pick up every cheque?"

I laugh but can't help but think that she must have tucked away a million or two during the course of Sex and the City, which she also produced.

Indeed, when there was talk of an SATC feature film early last year, Kim Cattrall, who played Samantha Jones, sought to increase her salary offer in line with Parker, who was set to be paid more for the film than her three co-stars.

When her request was rejected, Cattrall pulled out and the film was abandoned. "We all worked for six years, 18 hours a day. It would be a shame to come back and not reward the actors who had so much to do with shaping the show," said Cattrall at the time.

Parker's response is unequivocal. "The moment for [a film] has come and gone," she says, "and while it was disappointing at the time not to do it, I've resolved that. I'm grateful that [the series] has a new life in syndication and that I was part of whatever it was we did."

So what was it, I ask, that she and Sex and the City did? "I always hesitate to say why the show resonated so strongly because I'm afraid it's unattractive," she says. "But my guess is that it was a new voice and audiences, and more specifically women, had never felt like they had heard their voice before.

"I don't know if it would be the same show today," she adds. "It's a different world today. It was a different time socially and culturally in 1997 ... It seemed simpler, didn't it?" She seems genuinely mournful that it is over.

She has, she explains, kept a lot of the celebrated clothes from the show. "There's a whole archive," she says with a straight face. "I kept the Manolos, too. I don't touch them. I don't wear them. No, really, they're treated like art. Everything is archived."

I look at her again, and think how hard it is to separate Parker from Carrie. Parker makes it clear, however, that she is entirely different. She may dress up for interviews, but at home it's a different story.

"Haven't you seen the photographs of me where they say "What's happened to her?' she giggles. "With the zit cream and the sweatpants? We go to our beach house and there's no make-up artist there. Just my son, my husband and a broom with my name on it, and a vacuum cleaner and dishwashing liquid."

Nor would Parker be seen dead in some of the more risqué items in the Bradshaw wardrobe. "Carrie was a far less modest person than I was," she laughs. "I am a married person and it was never appropriate for me to dress the way Carrie Bradshaw did. But it was wonderful to have to go to work and dress that way. It was like living a different life. A double life."