Here’s 1 Thing Sarah Jessica Parker Has in Common With Carrie Bradshaw
The name Sarah Jessica Parker is synonymous with Carrie Bradshaw. While Parker has starred in a number of productions since her youth, her rise to stardom really came from portraying Carrie Bradshaw in the Sex and the City franchise. While Parker has said in the past that she doesn’t feel that connected to Bradshaw, the pair do share at least one thing in common. Here’s the one thing that Parker and Bradshaw both love.
Sarah Jessica Parker never felt very connected to her Carrie Bradshaw character
Actor Sarah Jessica Parker was born in a small Ohio town in the mid-1960s. She was one of eight children born into a family that struggled to get by. However, that didn’t stop Parker’s mother from ensuring that her children were well-versed in the arts from a young age.
During her childhood, Parker moved with her family from their small town in Ohio to Cincinnati, where she and her siblings began taking ballet and theater classes. After a few years in Cincinnati, the whole family relocated to New York City in 1977. According to IMDb, this is when Parker got her big break on Broadway when she was just shy of her 12th birthday, an opportunity that spurred the family’s move.
Of course, Parker is most known today for her role as Carrie Bradshaw in the romantic comedy-drama Sex and the City, which aired on HBO from 1998 to 2004. Despite playing Bradshaw for six years in the original series, and then again in the 2008 film Sex and the City, the 2010 Sex and the City 2, and the revival series And Just Like That… which aired its first season in December 2021, Parker has publicly stated that she never felt very connected to the character.
One thing that both Parker and Bradshaw can relate on is their love of New York City
Along with her more humble upbringing, Parker is more attached to a “good girl” persona rather than Bradshaw’s flawed, adventurous, and somewhat crass characterization. In addition, Bradshaw has always been a character who loved to date around, while Parker is more of a “relationship girl,” having been in a nearly eight-year relationship with Robert Downey Jr. from 1984 to 1991 and then marrying Matthew Broderick in 1997.
Parker and Broderick have now been married for over 25 years and share three children together, while the character Carrie Bradshaw made the decision to forgo motherhood altogether. While there are many differences between Sarah Jessica Parker and Carrie Bradshaw, one thing that both can seem to truly relate to is their love of New York City. On a podcast episode of Awards Chatter, Parker got candid with host Scott Feinberg about how moving to New York City as a kid changed her life for the better.
Sarah Jessica Parker has lived and worked in New York City for decades now
On her podcast episode with Awards Chatter, Parker opened up about landing a leading role in the revival of The Innocents on Broadway in 1976 as an 11-year-old kid. Landing this role was the primary reason her family left Ohio for New York City and was the sole reason that Parker fell in love with the city in her youth.
During the podcast, Parker commented, “I simply couldn’t shake New York. I couldn’t seem to get rid of this…I think it’s very hard to describe. People that come to New York and touch on it, and then dream on it, it’s a very peculiar thing… as some people have that feeling and they come, and it doesn’t last, while some people come and they never leave, and I’m the latter.”
Parker went on to describe how she saw this “hard-to-describe promise” in New York City. She knew she wanted to be an actor from a very early age, and New York City gave her that unspoken promise that her dreams could be a reality there. While Parker is much different from Bradshaw on a broad spectrum, the way she speaks about what New York City means to her is very Carrie Bradshaw-esque.
