STRESS IN THE CITY

Sarah Jessica Parker opens up as the Kim Cattrall controversy swirls.

Sarah Jessica Parker often plays exactly the opposite of who she really is. When she debuted as the now-iconic single woman Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City in 1998, she was, in fact, a newlywed; she had married Matthew Broderick a year earlier. And while they’ve since celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary, she’s now starring on Divorce as a newly single mum struggling to launch a career. In real life she’s mother to 8-year-old twins, Tabitha and Loretta, and son James Wilkie, 15, and has become a one-woman empire. In addition to fragrances and SJP Collection shoes, she has a new children’s clothing line with Gap and will be launching her own book imprint, SJP for Hogarth, in June. On Feb. 10 Parker, 52, spent the afternoon with Jess Cagle, editor-in-chief of WHO’S US sister magazine People, sitting on the floor of her living room in Manhattan, discussing marriage, kids, her 43-year career and her humble beginnings in Cincinnati. She also addressed the recent controversy around Sex and the City. After the plug was pulled on a third film, Kim Cattrall told Piers Morgan that she felt she’d had a “toxic relationship” with Parker and her co-stars. But Parker says there is no feud. “I never responded,” says Parker. “She needed to say what she needed to say. That is her privilege.” Recently Parker expressed private and public condolences after Cattrall’s brother Chris went missing and was found dead. But less than 24 hours after this interview, Cattrall blasted Parker on Instagram, accusing her of “exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your ‘nice girl’ persona.” Parker is not responding, though a source close to her makes clear that “when Kim’s brother went missing, Sarah called and texted Kim privately offering her support. When asked about her brother’s passing on a red carpet, Sarah conveyed again her condolences and love.”

On Divorce, your character Frances is a single, divorced mother. What’s going on with her? There’s a line in the pilot where she says, “I want to save my life while I still care about it.” So I hung my hat on that. What does she want? How do you fix your relationship with your children? How do you be a loving, good-spirited parent when your daughter hates you? There’s a scene where Frances’s daughter says to her, “F--k you.” You must be so glad you don’t have that kind of adolescent at home. I’m totally relieved. I’m so grateful James Wilkie still tells me everything. He’s got this great friend group. Sometimes I sit on the stairs because they’re all in the kitchen, eating all the food, and I listen. And I’m so charmed by their conversation. I’m so happy with the young man he’s becoming. What do you and Matthew feel you do right as parents? I’m always thinking about the things I’m not proud of. The thing we’ve tried to do is have

“From the time I was little, I imagined a whole other life. I was always daydreaming”

conversations with our children. Our lives are unpredictable, and we’re not always here when we want to be. We can’t always do drop-off and pick-up. But I’m proud that our children talk to us in the way they do. I’m glad they’re curious. What do you tell your girls about pressures to act a certain way and dress a certain way? Thus far, they’re kind of their own people and they haven’t fallen victim to how they should dress or look. But they are definitely in the crosshairs of cruelty. When they come home and describe situations and conversations with friends, I’m like, “Yeah, that was probably really hurtful and unpleasant.” But I also like to ask them, “What came before that?” I tell them all the time, “It’s not really pleasant to lie in bed at night and know that you’ve been mean to somebody.” In light of the #Metoo and Time’s Up movements, it seems more important than ever that women aren’t seen as rivals to each other. I used to say all the time, when we were doing Sex and the City, “Why does everybody want us to be fighting?” Nobody asked about the men not getting along on The Sopranos. It’s more interesting to imagine catfights, which is the most diminishing way of looking at a relationship with women. When Sex and the City 3 fell apart, it was perceived as a fight between you and Kim Cattrall. It’s really funny because I never talked about it, except [to say] that some of us were disappointed. But I never responded to the conversation Kim had with Piers Morgan, where she said things that were really hurtful about me. We had this experience and it was amazing, and nothing will ever be like it. We had a connection with an audience, and we had a connection with the city and with this crew, and we got to tell these crazy stories with each other.

So I don’t want to mess with that. I couldn’t imagine anyone else playing that part. So there was no fight, it was completely fabricated, because I actually never responded. And I won’t, because she needed to say what she needed to say, and that is her privilege. With your twin daughters, how have you helped them establish separate identities? They do it. I forget they’re twins. We call each of them “Sister” and we call James Wilkie “Brother.” They have different interests. They’re really devoted to each other, but they’ll also say, “I need time away from her.” Tabitha can play by herself for hours. Loretta always needs to be checking in. They go to different schools. That’s Tabitha’s idea. What were you like as a little girl? Shy but not inhibited. I listened a lot. I was just in my head daydreaming, imagining a whole other life. From the time I was little, I was like, “When I get out of here …” I liked being in other people’s houses because they had food we didn’t have. They had a TV. They had all matching furniture, and linens that matched. The floors were really clean. You were one of eight kids, and things were tough financially. Did that make you want to succeed? Oh, I think it played a huge role. We had a home. The first time I worked, when I was 8 [on TV’S The Little Match Girl], they paid me $500. And they gave me $5 [each working day] to buy food. I could get a Mcdonald’s burger and French fries for under a dollar. And I could get an ice-cream cone at BaskinRobbins for 25 cents. So I was banking $4. And I knew I’d been paid $500, which went into my bank account. So I felt like this could be the ticket out, and I loved it. You’ve said you want your kids to experience wanting, but they have different circumstances. I think there’s unquantifiable value in working towards something. It’s good for them to value it, to be excited about something, to not be casual or cynical. They write their letter to Santa every year. They write down five things, and they really want those five things. Footloose was your first time working on your own as an adult. What was that experience like? It was heavenly because, first of all, it was Kevin Bacon. I’d gone to the movie theatre like 11 times to see Diner. And there I was, working with him … And I fell in love with Chris Penn. What did you learn from that relationship? I learned that it’s great to have your heart broken. I hated it. It was miserable. But getting your heart broken is necessary. You know that you can love somebody and you have resilience. Before you met Matthew Broderick you had another significant relationship, with Robert Downey Jr. What did you learn from that? I learned how to take care of myself. There was a huge amount of time spent making sure he was OK. At a certain point, I had the courage to say, “I’m going to walk away and I’m just going to pray that you don’t die.” He’s spoken openly about doing drugs and partying during that time. And I didn’t do anything. I didn’t know for a long time. I was like, “Why is his heart beating so fast? Don’t do so many push-ups before bed!” I will say, I don’t regret any of it. I don’t resent the time spent. You’ve famously refused to do nudity onscreen and were vocal about that in one of your early films. That took tremendous self-confidence. I don’t know if I had confidence or if I was being counselled by people. There was so much pressure for me to take my

clothes off. My agent [Kevin Huvane] sent a car and a plane ticket [to the film set] and he said, “If anybody makes you do anything you’re not comfortable doing, you don’t.” Given what’s happening now and the stories told from that particular period, I know how lucky I am there was someone—in this case, a man—who stepped in. I ran into a woman who worked on that movie, and she said, “I remember you sobbing.” Sobbing because you were being pressured? Yeah. They were like, “Sarah Jessica’s going to be nude tomorrow,” and I was like “I’m not going to be nude.” It’s not a value thing, or like I’m judging anyone else. I just never dug it. I think it’s great when women feel comfortable doing it, and that’s their choice. You became a producer on Sex and the City. When did you realise you wanted to branch out to be a producer and entrepreneur? Producing [ Sex and the City] became this perfectly creative conversation. It was just all day, every day, completely consuming. I didn’t have a kid. I could spend 100 hours a week working on that. And in doing so, I became more functioning in business than I would have ever anticipated, given my college-entry test scores. I love business. I love how hard it is to figure out. I love the math of it. I love the margins and all of it. Before you married Matthew in 1997, was there a moment when you knew he was the one? We dated for five years before we got married. I had never thought about it. I never thought about a wedding dress. Never. Had not once daydreamed about it. At one point I just simply remember thinking, “God, I really hope he asks me to marry him.” I don’t know when or why. It was fairly early on. All marriages have ups and downs. What are the things you do to keep it healthy and intact? I don’t know because I feel like it changes. Your needs are shifting. You and your partner are going to change. It seems so silly, but I think you’re very lucky if you like the person. I still just really like him. I’m sure I annoy him and he annoys me, but I literally learn about him every day. I’m like, “You’re doing what? You’re reading what?” Is there anything you do every day for yourself? I read. I always try to find time. Waiting for a child. I read on the subway. On the set I have a book hidden under a dress or under a couch. For me reading is like disappearing. It transports me. And when I get into bed, I watch TV. I love TV. I love the news. It drives me bananas. I love watching Rachel Maddow. I love House Hunters International. I love Dateline. I love 30 for 30 on ESPN. Where do you see yourself when you and Matthew are in your 80s? I definitely see us travelling. I’ve travelled so much, but more often than not without Matthew because it’s been for work. I can’t imagine that I don’t want to be working in some way, because it just brings me so much joy. I still love acting. Sometimes I look at Ruth Gordon [the late actress and writer who worked until age 88] and think, you know, she was doing what she loved.

■