Sara Ramirez is shedding some light on why their And Just Like That character, Che Diaz, decided to call off their romance with Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon).
The fictional couple’s split played out during the Thursday, July 20, episode of the Sex And the City spinoff. Che — a nonbinary comedian who was first introduced to viewers in season 1 of And Just Like That — was the one to pull the plug.
“Che is a very truthful character. They tell you the truth whether you like what you’re hearing or not,” Ramirez, 47, told USA Today in an interview conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike took effect last week.
Ramirez, who uses they/them pronouns like their character, added that Che’s decision came on the heels of “an emotional roller-coaster of ego death” — their sitcom pilot not getting picked up.
“They’re left with a grounded, almost unrecognizable version of themselves that steps forward and says, ‘Listen, the wheels are falling off this car. This isn’t working,’” the Grey’s Anatomy alum explained. “I think it takes a lot of integrity to admit that to someone, whether they agree with you or not. But Miranda also has the awareness to acknowledge that it’s not working. So, it’s sad, but it’s relatable. A lot of people go through that.”
Ramirez’s character generated a lot of conversation after season 1 of AJLT premiered in December 2021, with The Daily Beast calling Che “the worst character on TV” in January 2022. Ramirez told USA Today that they receive such characterizations “with humor.”
They continued: “But my hope is that in season 2 — just like we embrace the humanity of the women on the show — hopefully we continue to embrace Che Diaz’s humanity. It’s important we remember that LGBTQIA+ people don’t have to be perfect, just like the women don’t have to be perfect. We get to be imperfect, we get to be unlikable and you still get to root for our humanity.”
AJLT executive producer Michael Patrick King, for his part, told the outlet that the goal for Che in season 2 was to show the “vulnerability beneath the bravura.” Ramirez echoed the sentiment, noting that they wanted to “dive into more nuanced storytelling that is complicated and messy and human and difficult.”
Breaking up with Miranda isn’t the only challenge Che has faced in the second installment of the series. While working on their sitcom pilot, Che struggled with body image issues after receiving criticism about their weight from a costumer on set.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Thursday, Ramirez said that they could relate to the “internalized fatphobia” Che deals with this season.
“That’s something that most of us, if not all of us, have grown up with,” they said. “It’s been really helpful for me to have had the growth that I’ve had around my internalized fatphobia. I’m not in the place that Che is at with it, but as the actor, I was able to recall what it feels like to give your power over to people who don’t know you or care about you, and then fall apart in your own relationship about it.”
Two years before Che and Miranda’s breakup episode aired, Ramirez announced their own life update, revealing that they and Ryan Debolt had separated after nine years of marriage.
“Ryan and I are no longer together. We remain loving and supportive in how we are choosing to forge our new individual paths,” Ramirez wrote via Instagram in July 2021. “Thank you for holding space around our choices and respecting our families’ privacy as we navigate this process on our own terms.”
Ramirez later described the split as a “very tender and vulnerable process” during a November 2021 interview with Out magazine, adding that they were “really proud of the way we have moved through things.”
The exes remained friends after ending their romantic relationship. “I married the right man because there’s no one else I’d rather be getting divorced from,” Ramirez told Out. “We have the kind of foundation of love where we can joke like that. But it’s because we’re holding space for each other as friends.”
New episodes of And Just Like That air Thursdays on Max.
