Sarah Jessica Parker Has Spoken Out About the ‘Mean’ Criticism of Her Appearance
And Just Like That is officially back, returning to our screens with the third instalment of the Sex and the City spin-off, with highly-anticipated new episodes dropping each week.
Sarah Jessica Parker of course returns to the show's helm, reprising her role as Carrie Bradshaw - joined by Sex and the City originals Cynthia Nixon (Miranda Hobbes) and Kristin Davis (Charlotte York), as well as AJLT additions Nicole Ari Parker (Lisa Todd Wexley) and Sarita Choudhury (Seema Patel). And from the season three wardrobe choices, to the surprise casting decisions, the latest instalment has been all anyone can talk about.
This week, it was Sarah Jessica Parker's words about her early SATC days that made headlines, with the 60-year-old opening up about the criticism that she has received over the years - particularly relating to her looks.
During her recent appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, SJP looked back on the negativity, recalling being “filleted” by critics and describing it as “a real test of [her] coping mechanisms."
"I wasn't prepared for public commentary, and I think that was really unpleasant at times," she explained. "It was the personal stuff that I was really not prepared for."
"I think just discussions of my physical person," Parker continued when asked to elaborate on the criticism. "Like stuff that I couldn’t change, and wouldn’t change, and had never considered changing.
"I didn’t feel like it was actually a conversation," she added. "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, um, 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 say it?'"
Parker went on to note one particular instance that left her “sobbing" after a magazine had written "mean" comments about her.
"It was brought to my attention that a magazine said something really mean about who I am, how I look," she recalled. "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?'"
The whole situation, she explained, left her “sobbing because it felt so purposeful", with Parker recalling: "I really cried about it."
"I think [confidence] really comes into question and is tested when you’re kind of filleted in a way, when you’re opened up," she later added. "We’re better for those kinds of experiences. But not all of us are good at it right away."
And Just Like That is available to watch now on Max.
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