Sarah Jessica Parker reveals ‘unpleasant' part of playing Carrie on Sex and the City: ‘Sobbing'
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Sarah Jessica Parker 'wasn't prepared for public commentary' about her physical appearance when Sex and the City debuted in 1998.
'That was really unpleasant at times when people would have opinions — not about the work,' the actress, 60, told podcaster Alex Cooper on Wednesday's episode of Call Her Daddy.
While Parker would 'sometimes' get frustrated with viewers' 'misunderstanding' of her character, Carrie Bradshaw, she said it was 'the personal stuff' that really got to her, reports Page Six.
'At that time, I thought I was a fairly confident person,' she shared, explaining that 'it really comes into question and is tested when you're filleted, in a way, when you're opened up.'
Despite the pain it caused, Parker said, 'I know you know this: We're better for those kinds of experiences, but not all of us are good at it right away.'
Parker appeared as a guest on the Call Her Daddy podcast. Picture: Supplied
When Cooper, 30, argued, 'It doesn't mean it doesn't hurt,' Parker agreed, adding, 'Up to that point, there was no chatter about me. … There was just my work.'
When asked point-blank about some of the 'harder comments' she had to hear, the Hocus Pocus star replied, 'I think just discussions of my physical person. Like, 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?''
To Parker, the 'chatter' about her face and body 'didn't feel like it was actually a conversation.'
'I didn't feel like I could sit in a room and someone would say to me, 'You're really unattractive,'' she said. 'And then I could say, 'Wow. First of all, that's hard to hear, but second of all, why do you seem angry about it? Why do you feel it's necessary to say it, to comment?''
She played Carrie Bradshaw on the original series – and has reprised the role in And Just Like That.
The mother of three, who has been married to actor Matthew Broderick since 1997, recalled one specific time when 'a magazine said something really mean' about how she looks.
'It was like a kick in the rubber parts,' she admitted. '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?''
Parker confessed that the remark, which she did not repeat, left her 'sobbing because it felt so purposeful.'
She believed that was 'the only time [she] really cried about' negative comments about her physical appearance.
The Emmy Award winner, who made sure to note that social media has changed the landscape of how the public shares its opinion, wondered whether her critics would 'say it to [her] face.'
This article originally appeared in Page Six and was reproduced with permission.
Originally published as Sarah Jessica Parker reveals 'unpleasant' part of playing Carrie on Sex and the City: 'Sobbing'
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