Sarah Jessica Parker says a ‘big movie star’s’ inappropriate and sexually-charged behavior almost caused her to walk off the set of Sex And The City
Sarah Jessica Parker says she once told producers she would leave the set of Sex & The City to end the ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘inappropriate’ sexually-charged behavior of a powerful actor involved with the HBO smash.
The Divorce actress, 54, told NPR’s Fresh Air Thursday of the experience as part of a larger discussion about the #MeToo movement.
Parker starred as Carrie Bradshaw on the show from 1998 until 2004 alongside Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis.
And despite her star status on one of TV’s hottest shows of the era, she said she could still feel a sense of gender imbalance.
The latest: Sarah Jessica Parker, 54, says she once told Sex & The City producers she would leave the set to end the ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘inappropriate’ sexually-charged behavior of a powerful man involved with the HBO series. She was snapped in May in London
‘I think no matter how evolved or how modern I thought I was … I didn’t feel entirely in a position – no matter what my role was on set – I didn’t feel as powerful as the man who was behaving inappropriately,’ Parker said,’ 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 mean, I had every right to say, “This is inappropriate.” I could have felt safe in going to a superior.’
Parker said that in one instance, she had her agent let producers know she was going to leave production and not return if things were not immediately remedied.
‘And, in fact, I will say, when there was a situation with somebody and I did go to my agent – because I felt I was no longer able to convey how uncomfortable this was making me, how inappropriate it was,’ she said, adding that ‘within hours, everything had changed.’
Featured: Parker starred as Carrie Bradshaw on the show from 1998 until 2004 alongside Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis
Recollection: Parker said that despite her featured status on one of TV’s hottest shows, she could still feel a sense of gender imbalance on the set
Parker said her agent made clear that she would be done if the conduct was allowed to continue.
‘He said to them, “If this continues, I have sent her a ticket, a one-way ticket out of this city” – where I was shooting – “and she will not be returning.”‘
Parker said she revisited what she had endured earlier in her career in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
‘It really wasn’t, I would say, until about six or eight months ago that I started recognizing countless experiences of men behaving poorly, inappropriately,’ she said, ‘and all the ways that I had made it possible to keep coming to work or to remain on set, or to simply … just push it down, push it away, find a little space for it and move on.’