Rosie O’Donnell Reflects on ‘Terrifying’ Sex Scene with Cynthia Nixon

Rosie O’Donnell didn’t expect to encounter so much intimacy when she arrived in the city for a cameo on And Just Like That.

The 64-year-old actress and comedian portrayed a nun who ultimately loses her virginity to Cynthia Nixon’s Miranda Hobbes in the season 3 premiere of the Sex and the City spinoff. However, O’Donnell described filming a close postcoital scene in bed as “horrifying.”

“I was so nervous!” O’Donnell revealed on the “Good Hang With Amy Poehler” podcast on Tuesday, August 11.

“First of all, I adore her. I have so much respect for her,” O’Donnell shared about Nixon. “She called me and said, ‘Ro, [creator] Michael Patrick [King] has written a scene for you, and it’s with me. Will you do it?’ I immediately agreed without hesitation. Then I read the script and saw I was in bed with just the sheets, and I thought, ‘Oh, my God.’”

O’Donnell continued, “I was apprehensive with Cynthia, and then Michael said, ‘You two can be a little more…’ and I thought, ‘I really can’t!’”

“The kissing was fine, but lying in bed and pretending we had just been intimate … I have a bit of immaturity in that area,” she added.

In June 2025, Nixon, 60, disclosed how her dear friend’s And Just Like That cameo came to be.

“Michael Patrick King, who writes for our show and is one of the chief writers, has been trying to create a role for Rosie every season, but it never really worked out,” the Emmy winner explained to People. “So this time, when he shared the idea with me, I thought, ‘Oh, this is fantastic,’ and he allowed me to text her directly to describe the part and ask if we could send her the script, hoping for the best.”

“She is incredibly funny and brought so much humor to the role, yet she is also very grounded and sincere,” Nixon remarked about O’Donnell’s performance in the episode. “We expected her to be hilarious, but we were unprepared for how emotionally impactful she would be, how genuine, and how she would truly wear her heart on her sleeve.”

And Just Like That, which saw the reunion of Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker (Carrie Bradshaw), and Kristin Davis (Charlotte York), aired for three seasons from 2021 to 2025.