Though her Sex and the City character Charlotte is a mother of two, actress Kristin Davis took a little longer to get going along the same path. At the age of 46, the single actress has adopted her first child, gorgeous daughter Gemma Rose.
“Adoption is a huge leap of faith for everyone involved,” Kristin tells hello! in this exclusive photoshoot. As she cradles her little girl in her arms, the actress adds: “It has been a profound experience for me.”
It is not an experience that she entered into lightly. “I have been thinking about adoption for a long time,” says Kristin, who fulfilled her dream of motherhood thanks to a US adoption agency. “And it had taken me a while to feel that I could take on parenthood by myself. It is a huge change in my life, but one I am so ready for.
“I love taking care of Gemma more than I ever could have imagined. She is a very easy baby, she is easily soothed and is sleeping really well,” Kristin adds. “She lets me know when she is uncomfortable and knows how to speak her mind already – in her own baby language, of course.”
Kristin’s SATC co-star Sarah Jessica Parker – who had twins Marion and Tabitha via a surrogate mother two years ago – has already offered her congratulations. “I just could not be happier for Kristin,” said Sarah Jessica, who also has a son, James, with husband Matthew Broderick. “She deserves that unique kind of happiness that children bring.”
While it has been a case of life mirroring art – SATC ’s Charlotte York Goldenblatt adopted baby daughter Lily from China – Kristin was understandably anxious during the adoption process, which she describes as a “rollercoaster”.
“I was nervous about whether it would work out,”
says Kristin. “Then when Gemma came to my house she was so tiny and precious that I was nervous I would hurt her. It is an amazing thing to be responsible for a tiny baby and I just wanted her to have the best care and all the love possible.”
Her character Charlotte goes on to have a biological daughter, Rose, with husband Harry, but Kristin says that this was not the inspiration behind her choice of names. “I had a list that I liked for her first and middle name, but I wanted to spend time with her before I chose them,” says Kristin.
“I have always loved Gemma and Rose. I have two friends whose daughters have Rose as a middle name. I was thinking more of them than my Sex and the City daughter’s name. My daughter is so beautiful that she’s a gem and a rose.”
Mother and baby are now getting to know one another in the star’s Los Angeles home, where Kristin has help during these challenging early days of motherhood.
“I am so lucky to have a career that allows me to have the most wonderful baby nurse,” she says. “I don’t know what I would do without the expertise she brings. I will be forever grateful for that.”
Not that she’s totally in- experienced with babies, having spent time with her SATC children. “I get to do Charlotte’s days at home with the dogs and the kids,” she has said. “I love it.”
BRINGING UP BABY
Kristin has been romantically linked to actors Alec Baldwin, Jeff Goldblum, Steve Martin and Liev Schreiber, but says she’s happy to bring up Gemma alone. “Some people feel desperation about finding a man,” she has said. “Personally, I don’t.”
She would like to meet Mr Right,
however. “It’s hard to find, just like it is for everyone else,” she says. “I meet a lot of people, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to like them.”
For her, having children was a greater priority than getting married. The actress, who is an Oxfam ambassador, has tellingly cited Angelina Jolie as an inspiration.
“I’ve met Angelina,” she said. “I don’t know her well, but what she has done is fantastic. I admire anyone who adopts children.”
Even before Gemma came along, Kristin had experience of adoption. Her stepfather Professor Keith Davis adopted her after marrying her mother Dorothy, who divorced Kristin’s father when she was a baby. The actress has three stepsisters from Keith’s first marriage.
Having recently finished filming adventure movie Journey 2: Mysterious Island, Kristin can now cherish every moment with her daughter. “Having this wish come true is even more gratifying than I’d imagined,” she says. “I feel so blessed.”
