Same-sex and the city

News that Sex And The City star Cynthia Nixon is in a relationship with a woman shocked the world this week, with friends saying the actor wants to be open about her sexuality.

According to reports the mother of two kids, who last week won an Emmy Award for her role as Miranda in the TV series, has had a girlfriend since January this year.

On Friday both the New York Post and New York Daily News quoted an unnamed friend as saying Nixon, 38, wanted to publicly come out. But her publicist Carrie Ross told Associated Press, We will not confirm or deny anything.

Then the actor made an admission of sorts to the Daily News. My private life is private, she said. But at the same time, I have nothing to hide. So what I will say is that I am very happy.

The Post reported that after winning her Best Supporting Actress Emmy Nixon flew home from LA to New York to celebrate her Emmy with the one person she really wanted to be with Sunday night -“ her new girlfriend.

The girlfriend is believed to be neither in the public eye nor living with Nixon.

Previously Nixon had been in a relationship with a man, English professor Danny Mozes, for 15 years and the pair have two children together. She and Mozes were childhood sweethearts but never married. They split up in June last year and now share custody of the kids.

Rumours about Nixon’s relationship with a woman began to surface almost a year ago after she broke up with Mozes, according to website AfterEllen.com. The gossip went into overdrive on the internet last week as word leaked Nixon was going to come out shortly in a New York newspaper.

Gay Village Voice writer Michael Musto congratulated the media on the way they reported the story. Things have progressed so much that, far from the old-style furious outings of a more closeted era, the Nixon reports were done in an angst-free, even positive way, with pains taken to point out how successful and happy Nixon is, Musto said. I’m thrilled she has an Emmy and a girlfriend.

Nixon joins a list of actors who refuse to discuss their sexuality but don’t deny reports of same-sex relationships. This list includes Aussie star Portia de Rossi, Saffron Burrows and Jodie Foster.

Those who have come out as lesbian or bisexual include Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O’Donnell, Angelina Jolie, Heather Mata-razzo, Tammy Lynn Michaels and Cherry Jones, according to AfterEllen.com.

Whether this news will affect Nixon’s career remains to be seen, but according to reports she’s been inundated with offers since winning the Emmy.

Many lesbian and bisexual women, meanwhile, are elated at simply having another public figure with whom to identify, AfterEllen.com reported.