Speaking of TV series we never get tired of even years after they first aired, Sex and the City is one of the first which comes to mind. The series followed the life of four friends from New York and presented a totally new outlook on single women in society.
Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, is the main heroine and the heart and the soul of the classic series. Her columns served as a guide to finding love and embracing the single life and the true friendship for many women who got hooked on each of the episodes. The fashion styles it imposed on many New Yorkers and women from all over the world is a different story. All in all, Sex and the City touched many lives and changed many perspectives.
Sarah Jessica Parker became a fashion icon. Not only for her incredible outfits, but her infatuation for great shoes too.
Even as a young child, Parker somehow knew she would do great things in Hollywood. Her childhood was a rough one. Her parents divorced and her mother, Barbara, remarried truck driver Paul Forste who was off-work most of the time so her mother had to provide for the family.
“The problem with talking about it is that people like to put a Dickensian twist on it as if I were an orphan,” Parker told the Daily Mail. “There were times when we didn’t have electricity because we didn’t pay the bill on time – we simply didn’t have the money that month – and sometimes we relied on the government for free lunches.
“But my parents were very clever and industrious; culturally, our lives were very rich, even though, in practical ways, things were kind of a mess.”
At the age of 8, Parker asked her mom to take her to audition for a role in The Little Match Girl. As she attended ballet lessons at the time and possessed an inner talent for acting, Parker got a role. She was paid $500 and she soon became the primary breadwinner for her family.
At the age of 14, in 1979, Parker starred as the orphan in Anne, which marked her Broadway breakthrough. It was in 1982 that Parker turned to television when she landed a role in Square Pegs. Among the rest, she played in Honeymoon in Vegas alongside Nicolas Cage, and Ed Wood.
What followed was the iconic role of Carrie Bradshaw, the woman millions fell for.
“‘Darren Star reached out to me,’” she recalled her agent telling her. “‘He’s written this pilot [“Sex and the City”] and tells me he wrote it with you in mind — you were in his head when he was writing it. I’m going to send it to you. I’ve read it. I think it’s really good. You should meet with him.’”
“I said, ‘Really? I feel like I’ve got it all right now, I can do a play, then do a movie, then do a play, then do a movie,” she added. “There’s a lot of flexibility. What could be better? Do I really want to go back to making a television series when I’m maybe held hostage signing a long-term contract?’”
“I met with Darren, and there were a couple of concerns that I had — like I really wasn’t keen on doing nudity and language issues — but [agent] Kevin continued to say to me, “This is different. You have never done anything like this before. No one’s ever done a part like this. Do this.”
Honestly, we can’t imagine anyone else playing Bradshaw. The role fitted Parker perfectly.
Becoming a celebrated style icon because of the series, Parker got herself involved in the fashion industry and worked with famous brands such as Gap. She also designed her own fashion line sold at Steve & Barry which brought her $4.6 million. What is interesting about Parker’s line is that each of the pieces she designed was sold for less than $15.
“I want to be clear about what I’m about to say. Relative to the rest of the world, I’m extremely well paid. But I know that almost everybody who works in network television works much less than I do and makes much more,” Sarah Jessica Parker told Oprah in 2004. “I own the show, so when it’s sold, there’s something in there for me. But I’ll never think I have money because I spent so many years without.
“I’ve been financially responsible for so many people for such a long time—my family—that it’s not enough to have money for myself. And it’s not about luxury. It’s about my mom’s house payments. And my father is about to be laid off on Monday,” she added.
Parker is married to actor Matthew Broderick. The two have 3 children together, James Wilkie Broderick, and twin daughters Tabitha Hodge Broderick and Marion Loretta Elwell Broderick.
Parker is never afraid to show off her natural beauty. On the filming of the sequel series And Just Like That, she was spotted rocking her gray hair. Very often, she posts photos with no make-up on and we believe she looks extraordinarily beautiful. One can’t tell she’s 56 years old.
“I’ve never thought a lot about [my attitude to beauty], to be honest,” she told Vogue. “It’s never been that I’m without vanity – because that would be total malarkey – but I sort of think that time moves along, you buy the things you like, you learn how to put your makeup on the way you feel comfortable, and that feels most like yourself.”
Parker gave us one of the most iconic and most memorable roles there are and she’s still playing it, fortunately for her fans.
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