NEED TO KNOW
- Sarah Jessica Parker discussed the criticism she received about her appearance on Sex and the City on the Call Her Daddy podcast Wednesday, June 18
- The actress said the negative comments about her were “hard to hear” at the time
- Parker starred as Carrie Bradshaw in the hit HBO series and subsequent films, returning to her famous role in the show’s revival And Just Like That …
Sarah Jessica Parker is opening up about her emotional reaction to being criticized for her appearance on Sex and the City.
The actress said she felt hurt by harsh comments she received while playing Carrie Bradshaw on the hit show — including one moment in particular where she was brought to tears — during the Wednesday, June 18, episode of Alex Cooper‘s Call Her Daddy podcast.
“Discussions of my physical person [were the hardest],” said Parker, 60. “Like, stuff that I couldn’t change and wouldn’t change and had never considered changing, or still even after hearing something that was like, ‘What? Somebody would say that?’ — even still, no interest in changing it.”
“Also, I didn’t feel like it was actually a conversation,” she continued. “I didn’t feel like I could sit in a room and someone would say to me, ‘You’re really unattractive,’ and then I could say, ‘Wow. Well, first of all, that’s hard to hear. But second of all, why do you seem angry about it, or why do you feel it’s necessary to comment?’ ”
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Parker recalled on the podcast one time when she broke down after reading negative comments about her appearance in a magazine.
“It was brought to my attention that a magazine said something really mean about who I am, how I look,” she said. “And it was like a kick in the rubber parts. I was just like, ‘Why is this a problem? … Why do you seem to delight in saying it?’ And I called two of my friends … and I was sobbing because it felt so purposeful.”
“That’s the only time I really cried about it. I think it was just an accumulation of maybe a season of that kind of commentary,” the Hocus Pocus star shared.
Parker starred as Carrie on SATC from 1998 to 2004 and two spinoff films, before returning as the character in the sequel series And Just Like That … , which debuted in December 2021.
Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty
The actress said on the podcast that, while appearing on SATC, she “wasn’t prepared” for the reaction she also received about her personal life.
“Being on a television show in particular … was probably a real test of my coping mechanisms because I wasn’t prepared, and this was before social media. So I really wasn’t prepared for public commentary,” she recalled.
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Parker went on to explain that the latter experience “was really unpleasant at times, where people would have opinions not about the work.”
“At that time, I thought I was a fairly confident person … but it really comes into question and is tested when you’re kind of filleted in a way,” she added. “We’re better for those kinds of experiences, but not all of us are good at it right away.”
