Cynthia Nixon loves butch girlfriend

May 11, 2010, 9:33 GMT

Cynthia Nixon loves her partner's "butchness".

The 'Sex and the City 2' actress - who has been dating Christine Marinoni since January 2004 - admits her partner is masculine but jokes those who know them believe the flame-haired star is the "butch" one in the relationship.

She said: "She's basically a short man with boobs. A lot of what I love about her is her butchness. I'm not saying I fell in love with her in a sexually neutral way. I love her sexuality - it's a big part of what I love about her - but I feel like it was her.

"It wasn't something in me that was waiting to come out. It was like, this person is undeniable. How can I let this person walk by? Christine would probably kill me for saying this, but my daughter said one time that if you really had to break this down, it looks like she would be butch and I would be femme... but really once you get to know us it's really the opposite."

Cynthia, 44, also claims her publicist wanted to stop her from revealing her sexuality following her split from English professor Danny Mozes in 2003, but she decided to go ahead with it as she thought it would sound "playground" to call Christine her friend.

She added to gay and lesbian magazine Advocate: "He just kept saying, 'It's your life, and it's private, and that's it.' And we kept asking, 'That's the whole thing? We never move past that? We're at the playground with the kids, and pictures are taken of us, and we say, 'No, she's my friend?' "

Cynthia - who plays feisty lawyer Miranda Hobbes in the 'Sex and the City' movies and TV series - will return to cinema screens at the end of the month to reprise the role in the second feature film alongside Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis.