Sex and the City may have made Sarah Jessica Parker a household name, but as the world fell in love with Carrie Bradshaw, the real-life Parker faced the pitfalls of public scrutiny. Coming into the spotlight during the height of celebrity tabloid culture, the actress now reflects on how, with her newfound fame, came the sudden and ruthless obsession with her appearance.
Speaking candidly on the Call Her Daddy podcast, the 60-year-old revealed the personal toll of stepping into Carrie’s Manolos when the series premiered in 1998.
“I wasn’t prepared for public commentary,” she admitted to host Alex Cooper. “Not about the work—just about me.”
As she navigated the show’s global popularity, Parker found herself bombarded with unsolicited opinions. While the show’s revolutionary portrayal of sex-positive women in their 30s was always bound to ruffle feathers at the time, the actress struggled with the personal vitriol.
“At that time, I thought I was a fairly confident person,” she reflected. “It really comes into question and is tested when you’re filleted, in a way, when you’re opened up.”
The “chatter”, as she called it, wasn’t just feedback, but felt cruel and pointed, she says, addressing the one-sided nature of online hate. “It didn’t feel like it was actually a conversation.”
When asked what upset her the most, she responded that comments about her appearance surprised her the most. “[It was] stuff that I couldn’t change and wouldn’t change and had never considered changing—even still after hearing something that was like, ‘What? Somebody would say that?’” she explained. “I was just like, ‘Why is this a problem? Why is this deserving of your time, and why do you seem to delight in saying it?’”
She recalled one magazine’s particularly cutting remark about her body. “It was like a kick in the rubber parts,” she lamented. “I sobbed because it felt so purposeful.”
Still, she managed not to let the trolls and expectations get to her, and even credits that time for making her stronger. “We’re better for those kinds of experiences,” she shared with Cooper. “But not all of us are good at it right away.”
Watch the full interview with Sarah Jessica Parker below.
This story first appeared on GRAZIA International.
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