Sarah Jessica Parker, right, and actor Willie Garson appear at the MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles on June 1, 2008
Cynthia Nixon revealed SJP was the first to know Willie Garson’s diagnosis (Picture: AP/Matt Sayles)

Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon has revealed that Sarah Jessica Parker was ‘the only one who knew’ late co-star Willie Garson had cancer during filming for reboot And Just Like That – before it became ‘undeniable’ and the rest of the cast were informed.

Speaking to press on Friday, as reported by Deadline, Nixon shared: ‘Sarah Jessica was the only one that knew he was sick when we were filming until things became undeniable and then we were told.

She added: ‘Thankfully we were able to shoot with him not just before he was sick but after so it could be something we could discuss and listen to him about. I know that was very important for us and I think it was something that was important to him, too – not to be hiding that from us anymore.’

The 55-year-old described Garson’s death from pancreatic cancer in September aged 57 as ‘completely unlooked for, unknown’.

Quoting her co-star Kristin Davis, Nixon shared: ‘As Charlotte says, “Death is a part of life”, but it does remind us of how precious our loved ones are to us.’

As the first two episodes of And Just Like That launched this week, fans mourned Garson’s passing as they watched him reprise the role of Stanford Blatch, Carrie Bradshaw’s (Parker) gay best friend, which he first played in 1998. 

Cynthia Nixon 'AND JUST LIKE THAT' World Premiere, Museum Of Modern Art,New York, - 08 Dec 2021
Nixon spoke to press as the series launched (Picture: Marion Curtis/StarPix for HBOmax/Rex/Shutterstock)
Carrie and Stanford in Sex and the City
Garson died during And Just Like That filming (Picture: HBO Max)

Following the news of his death, Parker paid tribute to her late friend, saying that it had been ‘unbearable’ to cope in the aftermath.

‘Sometimes silence is a statement. Of the gravity. The anguish. The magnitude of the loss of a 30 + year friendship,’ she wrote.

Willie Garson, Sarah Jessica Parker Sex and The City - 1998-2004
He had appeared on the show as Stanford Blatch since 1998 (Picture: Craig Blankenhorn/Hbo/Darren Star Prods/Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock)

‘Willie. I will miss everything about you. And replay our last moments together. I will re-read every text from your final days and put to pen our last calls.’

Elsewhere, fans were shocked by a major tragedy in the series’ opening episode, which even had cast members involved in deception in order to ‘throw off paparazzi’.

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And Just Like That is available to watch on Sky Comedy and NOW.

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