Noisy eater Cynthia Nixon

Mar 16, 2010, 17:36 GMT

Cynthia Nixon is a noisy eater.

'Sex and the City' creator Michael Patrick King banned the actress - who plays Miranda Hobbs in the TV series and subsequent films - from eating during shooting because she drowns out dialogue from the other members of the cast.

He said: "The fact is, there's only one thing I avoided having Cynthia do on all the years of 'Sex and the City', and that was to eat on camera.

"I discovered early in the first season when I wrote that Miranda eats in a coffee shop, Cynthia would eat in the coffee shop. I mean, chew and bite with gusto.

"There were times you couldn't even hear the other girls' lines. And it totally creeped me out; it was like, 'Why is she doing that? How do I get around it?'

"In editing, I'd be saying, 'Is there a cut with her where you don't see the steak in her mouth?' Is there a different take?' "

The cast - including Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis - are allowed to choose their own food for restaurant scenes and Cynthia astonished producers with her less-than-healthy selections.

Speaking at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Media Awards in New York at the weekend - where openly homosexual Cynthia was honoured with the Vito Russo Award - Michael added: "Seriously, all the girls would get to pick what they wanted in the coffee shop scenes, and Kristin and SJ would pick salads, and Kim would pick blueberries, and Cynthia, I'd look over and she'd be eating a cheeseburger.

"Like, eight cheeseburgers because you'd have to keep going and going and going again. And every time a new one arrived, she was even more delighted than the last."

GLAAD English Language Media Award winners:

Excellence in Media Award - Joy Behar

Vito Russo Award - Cynthia Nixon

Outstanding Drama Series - 'Brothers and Sisters'

Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series - 'Prayers for Bobby'

Outstanding TV Journalism Segment - 'Why Will Won't Pledge Allegiance' from CNN's 'American Morning'

Outstanding Journalism Article - 'We Love You, This Won't Change A Thing' by John Buccigross, ESPN.com and 'Why Can't You Butch Up? Gay Men, Effeminacy and the War with Ourselves' by Brent Hartinger, AfterElton.com

Outstanding Film - Limited Release: 'Little Ashes'

Outstanding Individual Episode - 'Pawnee Zoo' from 'Parks and Recreation'

Outstanding Daily Drama - 'One Life to Live'

Outstanding Talk Show Episode - 'Ellen DeGeneres and Her Wife, Portia de Rossi' from 'The Oprah Winfrey Show'

Outstanding TV Journalism - 'Newsmagazine: Uganda Be Kidding Me' from 'The Rachel Maddow Show' (MSNBC)

Outstanding Newspaper Article: 'Kept From a Dying Partner's Bedside' by Tara Parker-Pope for The New York Times

Outstanding Newspaper Columnist: Frank Rich, The New York Times

Outstanding Newspaper Overall Coverage: The New York Times

Outstanding Magazine Article: 'Coming Out in Middle School' by Benoit Denizet-Lewis for The New York Times Magazine

Outstanding Magazine Overall Coverage: The Advocate

Outstanding Comic Book: 'Detective Comics' by Greg Rucka

Outstanding New York Theatre, Broadway and Off-Broadway: 'A Boy and His Soul' by Colman Domingo

Outstanding New York Theatre, Off-Off Broadway: 'She Like Girls' by Chisa Hutchinson