Sarah Jessica Parker Shares the ’90s Dance Song She Replayed ‘Like a Lunatic’
Sarah Jessica Parker became the iconic Carrie Bradshaw with the premiere of Sex and the City in 1998. But the actor had a successful career long before uttering the catchphrase “and just like that.” Though fans can’t wait to see what happens next with Carrie and her friends, it’s fun to look back at what Parker was doing in the ’80s and ’90s. That includes exercising to the same dance music hit on repeat “like a lunatic.”
Sarah Jessica Parker’s career in the ’80s and ’90s
Parker’s career began on Broadway when she was 11 in the 1976 revival of The Innocents. She followed that with the title role in Annie.
Her first TV part was Patty Greene in the 1982 sitcom Square Pegs. Patty and her best friend were awkward teens desperate to fit in at their high school.
Parker’s first major film was the 1984 Kevin Bacon megahit Footloose, where she played Rusty Rodriguez. She went on to portray Steve Martin’s ditzy girlfriend in L.A. Story and the new fiancé of Bette Midler’s ex-husband in The First Wives Club.
The Sex and the City actor also appeared alongside Midler as sister witches in 1993’s Hocus Pocus and the 2022 sequel Hocus Pocus 2.
But before Disney’s Halloween classic, Parker starred opposite Nicholas Cage in Honeymoon in Vegas. The 1992 romantic comedy sees Cage playing Jack, faced with postponing his wedding to Betsy (Parker) after he loses $65,000 while gambling. But professional gambler Tommy Gorman (James Caan) makes a deal to have a weekend with Betsy to cancel Jack’s debt.
Sarah Jessica Parker exercised ‘like a lunatic’ to 1 dance music hit while preparing for ‘Honeymoon in Vegas’
Who would ever think to give Sarah Jessica Parker a treadmill? The And Just Like That… star has always been in phenomenal shape.
But a treadmill is just what a Hollywood movie producer sent the actor in her late 20s.
“I was about do Honeymoon in Vegas, and before that, I was off to do another movie in Iowa. And the producer of Honeymoon in Vegas was very concerned about me being fit for Honeymoon in Vegas. So they sent a treadmill to Iowa,” Parker shared with Radio Andy’s My Favorite Song w/ John Benjamin Hickey in 2015.
She recalled repeatedly running on that treadmill to one dance song: C+C Music Factory’s 1990 hit “Everybody Dance Now.”
“I would very diligently go out every single day and run like a lunatic to this song,” the actor explained. “And then when I went to Iowa, on the treadmill, I continued to run like a lunatic to this song. And then we went to Vegas, and I had a treadmill also in my room, and I would get up every morning and run.”
Throughout Honeymoon in Vegas, Parker shows her fit physique in figure-hugging dresses, tiny swimsuits, and even a Vegas showgirl costume.
The ‘Sex and the City’ star admits staying in shape is easy when you have money
Viewers have admired Sarah Jessica Parker’s figure for decades. The now-57-year-old always looks like she’s in the best shape.
But Parker is realistic about her good fortune. “I want to say something about that, which is that no real woman should look to any woman in this industry as an example,” she told Good Housekeeping. “It’s simply not applicable because of the enormous number of advantages we have. Women in this country should be reminded to be healthy rather than to be a size zero.”
She continued, “I’m not going to kid you: Money changes everything. I’m fortunate enough to have things like private trainers and yoga classes. I realize that.”
Parker added that she likes feeling fit and healthy and does yoga whenever possible.
