Sarah Jessica Parker: Big Star Acted 'Inappropriately'

SJP says she finally complained to her agent about it, put the kibosh on male co-star's behavior
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 9, 2019 8:40 AM CDT
Sarah Jessica Parker: 'Big Movie Star' Acted 'Inappropriately'
Actress Sarah Jessica Parker presents at the GLAAD Media Awards at the New York Hilton Midtown on May 4, 2019, in New York.   (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Even Carrie Bradshaw has had her #MeToo moments. Sarah Jessica Parker, who played the brashly confident character on Sex and the City, appeared on NPR's Fresh Air podcast, and she admits that she didn't always feel quite so confident when male co-stars didn't behave on set. However, she says she now realizes she's seen "countless experiences of men behaving poorly," and that she'd just developed coping mechanisms to deal with them. "No matter how evolved or how modern I thought I was ... I didn't feel as powerful as the man who was behaving inappropriately," she said, per the Hollywood Reporter. "Which strikes me as just stunning to say out loud, because there were plenty of occasions where it was happening and I was in a different position and I was as powerful. I had every right to say, 'This is inappropriate.' I could have felt safe in going to a superior."

Eventually, however, an incident happened that did spur Parker to act. "When there was a situation with somebody and I did go to my agent ... within hours everything had changed," she said. "[My agent] said to them, 'If this continues, I have sent her ... a one-way ticket out of this city ... and she will not be returning.'" Parker says from then on, even though the work environment wasn't "perfectly pleasant," she did feel "safe and better" and was able to complete the project. Parker isn't saying who the actor was—she describes him only as a "very big movie star"—and it's not clear exactly what the "inappropriate" behavior entailed, though she says after she complained, "I didn't have to listen to jokes about me or my figure or what people thought they could talk me into doing." The full podcast here. (More Sarah Jessica Parker stories.)

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