Sarah Jessica Parker, successful actress, style icon and the woman we all associate with Carrie Bradshaw, talks to JESSICA YOUNG about family Christmases, working mother guilt and plans for Sex And The City 3
F
or an A-list actress who’s great at her job, there’s only one problem – everybody thinks she’s the character she plays.
And since 1998, Sarah Jessica Parker (or SJP to her legions of adoring fans) has regularly been mistaken for Carrie Bradshaw – the funny, kooky, fashion-obsessed commitment- phobe of Sex And The City fame. Admittedly, there are similarities – they both live in Manhattan, they both look great in designer clothes, and they both come over as that warm and funny someone you’d like to hang out with. But beyond that, as is increasingly
clear, SJP, 46, is not Carrie Bradshaw. She’s not even Kate Reddy, the much more grown-up Manhattanite she recently played in I Don’t Know How She Does It, juggling children and a high-powered career rather than fashion and friends, but still managing to emanate the trademark SJP charm. The actress behind these creations, however, is a lot more
stable than Carrie and not quite so frantic as Kate, despite maintaining a stellar career, a 14-year marriage to actor Matthew Broderick and three children – nine-year-old James Wilkie and twins Marion Loretta and Tabitha, two, born via a surrogate. “Kate reminded me of so many mothers,” says SJP, “who are doing it with far less support than I have and don’t have the liberty to dip in and out of work the way I do, or the kind of childcare I have that gives me enormous amounts of comfort when I shoot a movie. The small hardships that I face are far less than millions of working mothers all across the globe,” she adds firmly. “I have a lot on my plate, but there are women under far more enormous burdens.” If there’s one thing that makes SJP
particularly likeable, it’s her refusal to appear spoilt or whiney. On the contrary, she has an unusually grounded sense of perspective. “I think they just feel appreciation for me as a mother,” she laughs
when asked if her kids are aware of her fame. “It’s more about the kind of parent I am and less about my profession or what it brings. A two year old just doesn’t care about that.” It’s clear that being a hands-on mother is vital to her. Though she has a nanny, for times when she and Matthew are both working, she tries not to spend long periods away. “Being a working mum does mean
there are times when you inevitably feel disappointment and sadness,” she admits. “I missed my son’s birthday because of work. There was nothing I could do about it, and of course I felt desperately sad. But on the whole I try to organise my work life around the things that are important in my children’s lives.” Though the twins are still too little
to be unduly troubled, doesn’t James Wilkie kick up a fuss when she has to leave? “He notices my absence,” she agrees, acknowledging that she’s familiar with the working mother guilt. “But he knows it’s for a finite