Cynthia Nixon on coming out, her partner and bisexuality

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a pink background.

Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon has described her decision to come out.

The star, who has been with fiancee Christine Marinoni for six years, initially kept their relationship secret on the advice of an unnamed publicist.

But uncomfortable with hiding the truth, Nixon then hired out gay publicist Kelly Bush, who suggested she confirm the rumours.

Nixon told The Advocate: “I was like, ‘Really, we can just confirm?’. So that’s just what we did. It was so fantastic.”

Although Nixon had confirmed she was dating a woman, Marinoni’s name was not public.

“It was a little crazy for a while because there were people stationed outside my house,” the actress said.

“There was a mad scramble to figure out who she was. So many people I knew got calls. I’m always meeting people in my life who say, ‘You know, they thought it was me; I got a call.'”

The couple now live with Nixon’s two children from her relationship with Danny Mozes, with Nixon known as ‘momy’ and Marinoni as ‘ma’.

Nixon said of her fiancee: “She’s like 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.”

Since coming out, the actress has been honoured for her work campaigning gay rights, recently winning a GLAAD award.

She said: “I identify as gay as a political stance. If anybody, prior to my meeting and falling in love with Christine, had asked me about what I think about sexuality, I would have said I think we’re all bisexual.

“But I had that point of view without ever having felt attracted to a woman. I had never met a woman I was attracted to [before Christine]. And maybe if I’d met her when I was 20, I would have fallen in love and only dated women. But maybe if I’d met her at 20, I wouldn’t have responded at all. Who knows?”

The full interview can be read at Advocate.com.