The Business of Style
As Sarah Jessica Parker ends her tenure as New York columnist Carrie Bradshaw, the versatile actress reflects on the show that launched her career to new heights, her growing brand, and life in the shoes of the star.
Interview by Fabián Waintal | Introduction by Elia Essen | Photography by HBO Max
Sarah Jessica Parker, 2022 x Sex and the City, And Just Like That...
For nearly three decades, Sarah Jessica Parker has donned Manolo Blahniks and bold couture outfits to become New York relationship columnist Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City as she tackles troubles in love and her career alongside her three best friends.
When she took on the role in 1998, Parker had no idea it would run for six seasons and bloom into two movies and a three-season spin-off series And Just Like That…
Still, it would be a mistake to pigeonhole Parker into one role. The multifaceted actress got her start on the stage. Growing up in Ohio, she studied at the Cincinnati Ballet. She landed her first acting job at the age of nine, starring in the 1974 NBC adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Match Girl. Two years later, she made her Broadway debut in New York in The Innocents before landing the title role in Annie. Later, as an adult, she nurtured her love of theatre through roles in How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying (alongside her now husband Matthew Broderick) and Once Upon A Mattress.
And, along with the slew of movie credits, including L.A. Story, which she starred in alongside Steve Martin, Hocus Pocus, Footloose, Girls Just Want To Have Fun, and The First Wives Club, it was her role as the titular excitable dog in the 1995 play Sylvia that helped her land the role of Carrie Bradshaw. Her charming and magnetic portrayal of the lovably imperfect heroine earned her two Primetime Emmy Awards, four Golden Globes, and many other nominations and wins.
Sarah Jessica Parker, 2025 x And Just Like That...
Now 60, Parker hasn’t slowed down. In between Sex and the City and its spinoff shoots, she has starred in and produced numerous films and TV shows, including Failure To Launch, The Family Stone, Did You Hear About The Morgans?, I Don’t Know How She Does It and Divorce.
Over the past decade, Parker has also turned her sights to honing her business acumen. Her ventures are vast and varied—from a publishing line, SJP Lit, through Zando to a collaboration with Samsonite to a collection with New Zealand winery Invivo—but to all of them, she brings aplomb and her signature down-to-earth cheer. She was known to work the floor at her now-shuttered West Village shoe shop, helping customers find just the right pair of stilettos that would make Carrie swoon.
As And Just Like That... aired its final episode late this summer and Parker ends her tenure as Carrie Bradshaw, the actress, in an exclusive interview with journalist Fabián Waintal, reflects on the show that launched her to stardom, her next chapter as a businesswoman, and the evolution of the entertainment industry.
Fabián Waintal (FW): Have you noticed any changes in Hollywood since you began working as an actress?
Sarah Jessica Parker (SJP): It hasn’t changed radically, but I do notice lots of young performers who I am completely unfamiliar with. I feel sometimes like the new kid in class, when everybody knows each other. Everybody seems more confident.
FW: And looking back today, did you imagine in the beginning that Sex and the City was going to be so successful?
SJP: No. Everything changed when we started the second season, when our producer, Michael Patrick King, wanted to dig into the characters’ points of view. He let everybody become more complicated and more human. That allowed friendships to become much more interesting, much more necessary, much more human. It cut deeper. That was smart and good writing with a special depth I thought was so beautiful.
THIS IMAGE: Sarah Jessica Parker with husband Matthew Broderick, Golden Globes, 2006
FW: Did you have any input on the stories?
SJP: We worked closely together, where we had table reads, and we always messed with a script. We talked a lot about those stories every new season. And a few months before they would start writing, they would pitch me the new stories, and we would talk about it. We talked a lot through the entire process.
FW: Was it hard to leave the show?
SJP: It is scary because I’ve been with the same people, so happy for so long. It was a hard decision to leave after spending so much time and having such a singular experience. HBO had been my home for many years. And it just feels peculiar to walk away from really what had become such an important professional home for me.
FW: If you had to choose between TV, a streaming platform like HBO, and cinema, what would it be?
SJP: I grew up without TV—I didn't have one for most of my childhood. So it was a medium that I really didn't understand. But I grew to love it. I love the pace of it. I loved the limitations. And I also love that it could do what cinema couldn't do, to keep telling someone's story. So, it's been a wonderful experience.
FW: How do you feel about using your name now as a brand across different ventures, such as your collaboration with the wine Invivo X, SJP?
SJP: Well, there are some opportunities that present themselves, and some of them feel ridiculous or foolish. Every now and then, one comes in. And if I’m curious about it, maybe I’d have the opportunity to work with smart and interesting partners who I think are very good at what they do, but also decent and honourable people. That’s when it's hard to say no. I'm a curious person. I love to learn new things and be part of new conversations. And when I met two gentlemen from this small online business called Invivo, from New Zealand, I was really impressed. They convinced me that I could learn the business, and they promised to share everything they knew. I also asked many questions, I was involved, and it's been a wonderful opportunity. So it’s surprising, and now and then I get some free bottles of wine, which is also very nice.
FW: Do you anticipate growing your SJP brand?
SJP: We want to grow; we have to find new projects, we just simply do. It's the way the world works now. We're always creating new styles. We have a Samsonite backpack that's been successful for us, the Carried Away convertible backpack, and a Shoeful Duffel that I love.
Sarah Jessica Parker, 2025 x And Just Like That...
FW: What do you admire in your own characters? Do you have anything familiar with any of them?
SJP: They all look like me (laughs). There are parts of my characters that I feel familiar with. Carrie Bradshaw loved New York City. I do, too. Her friendships are important to her; for me too. Frances in the show Divorce was a mother, and I can relate to that, how deeply joyful that experience is, even though sometimes it is seemingly impossible.
FW: Do you think you will be able to stay away from the Carrie Bradshaw character in And Just Like That…?
SJP: I loved playing her. It was an unbelievable time in my life. And I stopped doing it because I want to do different things. I miss that kind of work in my life, being challenged, being terrified and working with new people, learning something new once again. We were all really comfortable with what we were doing on HBO. And that is also great, but I want to keep learning.
FW: Do you remember the first time your name appeared in the news?
SJP: I think the first time my name was in a newspaper, it was because we were protesting the Vietnam War on the campus of Ohio University, saying that the war is not healthy for anybody. I grew up in a family that was politically involved. My parents were very involved politically, before I was born, in their own levels, civic-minded, as part of our community, municipal elections, just related to issues of the time. And so, I grew up protesting a lot in my house. In a way, we should get up in the morning, brush our teeth, and think about the world around us. Today, I try to take the opportunity to speak some time for people whose voices are not being heard. That's really important to me. But it's also important to be educated about what you're talking about.
FW: Do people listen more to celebrities than real politicians?
SJP: I guess more and more so. I don’t think an actor's voice is more important than any community leader, but as an actress, I'm doing what I would do if I were a teacher, to shine a light on something, and I take that seriously. It's meaningful to me.
FW: Any advice for your fans?
SJP: I’m not someone to give advice; I don’t. I’m very reluctant to be that person. But I think that your 20s should be about improvisation, travel, curiosity without making any proclamations about who you are or what you’ll be, who you are going to marry. Take chances. It's unfortunate that many people feel that they have to come out of college and buckle down, because I think the 30s are really when you’d get the ducks in a row, kind of developing an interest in something. And then I think the 40s are the meaningful period of those two decades to me. I’m so glad I made my mistakes back then, to pursue a meaningful life based on those years I had.