Sarah Jessica Parker calls out 'misogynist chatter' about playing Carrie Bradshaw in her 50s: 'What am I going to do about it? Stop aging?'
The premiere of the Sex and the City reboot And Just Like That... is a month away, so it's fitting that Carrie Bradshaw herself — a.k.a. Sarah Jessica Parker — is gracing the December cover of Vogue, her on-screen alter ego's sometime employer.
Along with some Carrie-worthy fashion spreads, Parker's profile sees the 56-year-old actress opening up about revisiting her most famous role as an older woman.
Last seen in the 2010 sequel Sex and the City 2, Carrie and her cohorts — minus Kim Cattrall's Samantha — are now in their 50s, sparking some digs at the stars' expense, says series showrunner Michael Patrick King.
"When we announced And Just Like That…, there were a lot of positive reactions, but one bitchy response online was people sharing pictures of the Golden Girls," he tells Vogue, referencing the '80s sitcom about four senior citizen roommates. "And I was like, ‘Wow, so it’s either you’re 35, or you’re retired and living in Florida. There’s a missing chapter here.'"
Parker, who has been seen filming on the streets of New York City with streaks of gray in her blond hair alongside a now silver-haired Cynthia Nixon as Miranda, also bristles at the feedback.
“There’s so much misogynist chatter in response to us that would never. Happen. About. A. Man,” she says of focus on age. “‘Gray hair gray hair gray hair. Does she have gray hair?’ I’m sitting with [close friend and Bravo talk show host] Andy Cohen, and he has a full head of gray hair, and he’s exquisite. Why is it OK for him? I don’t know what to tell you people! Especially on social media. Everyone has something to say. ‘She has too many wrinkles, she doesn’t have enough wrinkles.’
"It almost feels as if people don’t want us to be perfectly OK with where we are, as if they almost enjoy us being pained by who we are today, whether we choose to age naturally and not look perfect, or whether you do something if that makes you feel better. I know what I look like. I have no choice. What am I going to do about it? Stop aging? Disappear?”
Parker's co-stars also spoke to Vogue about revisiting their characters as middle-aged women.
"People are like, ‘Why should they come back?’ and it really bugs me," said Kristin Davis, who plays Charlotte York Goldenblatt. "Are women’s lives not interesting now? Nobody ever asks, ‘Why would you do this violent remake over and over again?’ For me that is so indicative of our reluctance to sit and watch women’s lives develop over time.”
"I like that we’re not trying to youthify the show," added Nixon. "We’re not including, like, a 21-year-old niece."
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