Sarah Jessica Parker, who is lookin’ not herself in the latest poster for Sex and the City 2, is looking absolutely flawless on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Marie Claire magazine. Here is our first look at her new MC coverphoto and some excerpts from the accompanying article:

Unless you’ve been on a Cosmo bender for the last few months, you know that Sex and the City 2 is headed to the multiplex, and with it, every red-blooded, Louboutin-loving woman in America. The buzz began last summer with the first location shoots, when mobs of fans followed the trailers around New York City like rock groupies gunning for a seat on the bus … Now, as opening night approaches, big questions loom: What will befall the now-midlife fab four? Will the sequel bust the $415 million worldwide chick-flick record set by its predecessor? And the other multimillion-dollar question: Do Sarah Jessica Parker and Cattrall really hate each other? Parker demurs on all counts, especially the last. The film’s star and producer — who says she’s seen to “every detail, every atom” of the movie since shooting wrapped in late 2009 — compares the behind-the-scenes tension to that of any busy office. “When you’re on set, you’re working 90-hour weeks, you’re never home, you’re exhausted,” she says. “There are times when all of us have been sensitive, and sometimes feelings get hurt. But I don’t have any regrets about how I’ve treated people.” Cattrall maintains that “the chemistry among the four of us is very strong.” So why have stories of enmity and infighting followed the cast since before the first movie came out, when Cattrall reportedly made a fuss about Parker’s salary being twice her own? “Because the press has to put women in these boxes, rather than show them as the movie portrays them: working together and being powerful,” says Cattrall. “Things just have to be explosive for no other reason than for people’s imaginations.” Kristin Davis, the resident cheerleader — who with Parker organized a Thanksgiving Day dinner of couscous and turkey for members of the cast and crew in Morocco — laughs off the idea of infighting. “There was a very strange piece in one of the tabloids that said Kim and I would eat in the restaurant of our hotel and not sit together, which cracks me up,” she says, actually cracking up. “When I would get back from the set, I would go to the gym and get room service. I’m not a put-on-decent-clothes-and-go-to-the-hotel-restaurant person, but Kim is. The story was that we don’t like each other. Ridiculous!” The group has had their disagreements, admits Cynthia Nixon. “It hasn’t always been smooth sailing,” she says. “But the idea that we’re somehow adversarial is ludicrous.”

This Marie Claire article actually does talk about the movie some (rather than the perceived feud between the women) and the online version can be read at MC‘s official website HERE. After the jump check out some stunning photos of the Sex and the City ladies lookin’ hawt, hawt, hawt as featured in this new mag …

Earlier today we learned that Jessica Simpson, in support of her new TV series The Price of Beauty, is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Marie Claire magazine. But, what is so special about this particular magazine cover is that Jess was photographed without make-up. And, to take things a bit further, the final photos were not airbrushed or re-touched in any way. Here is our first look at Jess‘s untouched and totally natural Marie Claire coverphoto:

Jessica Simpson graces the May cover of Marie Claire (on newsstands April 13) with absolutely no makeup or retouching. This was all done to help promote Jessica’s new initiative, “A Beautiful Me” – a program she is launching to encourage young women to love themselves and feel comfortable in their own skin. The program launches at the close of her VH 1 series in May. Jessica is the magazine’s May guest beauty editor and embraces the new natural look with air-dried hair and no makeup. Jessica opens up to Marie Claire about herself:

“I don’t have anything to prove anymore. What other people think of me is not my business. If I’m in a mood to go out and feel hot and sexy, I want long hair that I can feel on my back. But I also like bed head.”

Jess is a brave woman to be going au naturale on the cover of a major magazine like this. She is a natural beauty, tho, so she can really pull it off. After the jump, check out two more untouched photos from Jessica‘s Marie Claire photospread …

In today’s newslinks we learned that Gossip Girl Blake Lively grew up at Disneyland and now we know where that little nugget of info comes from … Lively is featured on the cover and in the pages of the Marie Claire magazine, which also features a coverstory interview wherein Blake discusses her entry into the world of acting with director Rebecca Miller (who directed Lively in her new film The Private Lives of Pippa Lee). Here is Blake‘s MC coverphoto along with some excerpts from her interview with Miller:

On Lively’s first day on the set of my new film, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee—where Lively plays the young, troubled runaway Pippa Lee to Robin Wright Penn’s adult Pippa—she was exhausted, having arrived at 7 a.m. after working until 3 a.m. on the pop-culture soap-smash Gossip Girl the night before. The fact that her first scene in the movie would entail hysterical tears and a climactic fight with her bipolar mother, played by the powerful Maria Bello, seemed to faze her only slightly at the time, though internally, it seems, it was another story…

RM: What was your first day like on Pippa working with Maria Bello, who played your pill-popping mother? You had to face that tornado…
BL: I was honestly terrified. I hadn’t slept that much, and all I wanted that day was for Maria to say, “Wow, great job.” And when she didn’t say anything to me, I thought, Oh, my gosh, I’m terrible. She hates it. She’s calling her agent, saying, “What have you gotten me into?”

RM: [laughs] Maria was in character all day that day…
BL: But once we finished filming, she was so complimentary and sweet. The way Maria worked was very method, and then [costar] Julianne Moore was the complete opposite—between takes, she was a nice, normal mom talking about her kid’s baseball games. Then you would call “Action,” and suddenly she’s playing this creepo photographer! It freaked me out.

RM: One of the remarkable things about you is your ability to imagine yourself in situations that are much bleaker than what you’ve experienced in your own life.
BL: As a character, I get to be this wild, outgoing person that I’m so not. I think it all comes from being the youngest of five. I was always observing my siblings and hearing stories about their lives that turned out to be helpful as an actress.

RM: Do you think of yourself as Southern, even though you grew up in L.A.? I think there’s a Southern girl lurking in you.
BL: I grew up in L.A., but I was the only one in my family born there. I have a tight-knit Southern family, so whenever I tell people I’m from L.A., they say, “Yeah, but you don’t count,” I guess because of the Southern values I was raised with, and the way I eat—the more sugary and cheesy and fried, the better.

RM: Did you ever study acting?
BL: Well, my parents taught an acting class when I was growing up, and because I never had a babysitter, I would end up at them. When I got older, I knew all the drills so well that I felt fine getting up on stage. Without them, I’d still probably be hiding under my mom’s skirt.

RM: What’s your first memory?
BL: Oh, geez, I remember I was about 3 years old, and I woke up—we were staying at Disneyland. I was in a little pink silk bed, and there were Mickey and Donald and Goofy looking down at me. It was the most exciting place in the world. I kind of feel like I grew up at Disneyland.

RM: What do you mean, you grew up in Disneyland?
BL: My mom would take me there twice a week. I did well in school, so I guess my mom just wanted to have some extra time to bond with me. Sometimes, when I was older, she’d keep me out till 1 in the morning.

RM: [laughs] She would take you out of school and keep you out till 1 in the morning?
BL: We only stayed out late on weekends. We’d get a hotel room and then go to Denny’s, drink coffee, and talk for hours. I’ve always been a night owl. Even at home, we’d stay up all night talking. My mom tells the most amazing stories. In a way, she was kind of raising me to be a great actress without even realizing it.

RM: You went to 13 different schools growing up?
BL: I did. When I was only 3 years old, my mom enrolled me in the first grade. My older brother was supposed to start school, but he didn’t want to go alone, so my mom told them I was 6 since I was so tall. But after a few weeks, they said they would have to put me in mentally disabled classes because I wasn’t up to pace with the rest of the kids. They thought that I was slow because all I wanted to do was sleep while the other kids were doing their projects. [laughs] So my mom took me out of school.

Meh. The interview kinda sucks … the fact that the Disneyland bit is the most interesting part of the whole interview is kinda sad. Thankfully, the accompanying photospread more than makes up for the this snoozy interview. After the jump, check out some of Blake‘s photos from this issue of Marie Clarie magazine …

The lovely Ms. Nina Garcia, who is currently still one of the main judges on Project Runway, has reportedly started the initial moving in process into her new digs at her new magazine, Marie Claire. You may recall that back in April it was reported that Nina would be exiting her post at Elle magazine at some point this year and we now know that her official first day at Marie Claire will be September 2 … but that doesn’t mean she can’t get in a bit of prep work at her new place of employment before hand, right?

Though Nina Garcia serves as editor at large at Elle through season five of “Project Runway,” it seems she’s already getting a head start on her fashion director duties at Marie Claire. Her new gig officially begins Sept. 2, but sources close to the magazine say Garcia has already moved into her office, the former digs of Tracy Taylor, who was dismissed in May to make way for Garcia. The “Project Runway” judge also is said to be conducting “run-throughs” for fashion shoots for the January issue. Sources said Garcia’s requests for high-end designer wares to be featured in fashion spreads can at times be at odds with Marie Claire’s more mass-market sensibilities. A spokeswoman for Marie Claire said, “Nina is on contract with Elle that prohibits her from working for Marie Claire before Sept. 1. She has been in the office only to work out her travel schedule for the European fashion shows this fall.” Garcia’s move to Marie Claire happened before the “Project Runway” judge finalized her contract to appear on the show’s sixth edition, which will air on Lifetime instead of Bravo. On Friday, a Weinstein Co. spokeswoman confirmed Garcia has re-upped, meaning all of the principals — herself, Michael Kors, Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum — will move to Lifetime with the reality program. Does that mean Marie Claire has been confirmed as the official magazine partner? Sources close to the show say the deal has been done, but the Weinstein spokeswoman declined to confirm Friday.

Seriously, Nina Garcia is one of my fave parts of Project Runway so I’m glad to know that she will still be on board with the show even after it moves to Lifetime. I’m pretty confident that Nina will do well at Marie Claire … she strikes me as a very able magazine person and will prolly soon become a great asset to the mag. I wish her much luck on her new endeavor and look forward to watching her work her magic for Marie Claire.

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Sarah Jessica Parker, star of the current blockbuster #1 movie Sex and the City, may be featured on the cover of the new issue of Marie Claire magazine but all of her primary SaTC castmates and some of the production folks were interviewed for the mag, each one giving insightful quotes on the TV series, the gossip surrounding the movie and, of course, the matter of sex. Here are a few quotes from the SaTC cast member interview:

IN THE BEGINNINGDarren Star (SATC creator): My idea was that this could be sort of a Mary Tyler Moore Show for the new millennium. It wasn’t about T&A. It would be R-rated, but it had to be funny.Cindy Chupack (executive producer): On HBO we could use language and show sex without pressure from sponsors—like when we wanted to do an episode about Miranda’s deciding whether to keep the baby or have an abortion. I don’t know how you could have done that on network television as honestly as we did. Have your main character admit that she’d had one? It felt like a luxury that there was no pressure other than what would be true for these characters.Chris Noth (Mr. Big): It started slow and then it just sort of exploded. All of New York just changed at the same time, really. It all became Cosmos and the Meatpacking District. I remember being really sort of in shock and awe.THE GOSSIPIt was said you were the holdout on making the movie. Why?Kim Cattrall (Samantha Jones): Four years ago I was going through a painful public divorce, the series was coming to an end, and my father was diagnosed with dementia. I felt it was time to be with my real family. A year-and-a-half ago, when I was sent the script, I was ready and strong enough to revisit Samantha. In some ways, I’m glad we waited. The script and the experience of making the movie was the best possible reunion.Mario Cantone (Anthony Marantino): Certain people were vilified in some articles, and others were vilified in other articles. It’s interesting how they never write stuff like that about the men on The Sopranos. They always go after the women. They just do. BETWEEN THE SHEETSDarren Star: These were women who were objectifying men. And it was sort of jarring. Men aren’t used to hearing themselves depersonalized and referred to as Mr. This or Mr. That. I think if you had a show with that sort of locker-room talk from a bunch of guys talking about women, it would be a little “yuck.”Kristin Davis: One time [when Charlotte dropped her robe in front of Trey], I mistakenly showed my nipples. But it was a hard scene to shoot, and I had enjoyed that take so much, I said OK. HBO sent me a copy to approve.Cynthia Nixon: Most of my sex scenes were comic—the dirty talker, the marathon man, the guy who wants to kiss my ass and wants me to do the same to him.The whole interview (which you can read HERE) is a really great read. At this point, I’m still not over the hoopla surrounding the movie. I’ve already enjoyed seeing it a couple of times and wouldn’t mind seeing it again. I may hold off for a while, tho … there are other movies to be seen. Thankfully, there seems to be no shortage of magazine interviews like this Marie Claire one to read to tide me over. [Source]