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Sarah Jessica Parker is sick of the double standards on television.
In a new interview with HuffPost UK, the 60-year-old actress defended her iconic “Sex and the City” and “And Just Like That” character, Carrie Bradshaw, from fan backlash and called out the fact that certain male TV characters don’t get the same treatment.
“It’s always interesting to me that [Carrie is] so condemned, but a male lead on a show can be a murderer, and people love him,” Parker said.
“And if a woman has an affair, or behaves poorly, or spends money foolishly, there’s a kind of punitive response to it,” she added.
But Parker did admit that she finds the continued discourse around Carrie “pretty fantastic.”
“That kind of connection and those kinds of strong feelings, both positive and negative, are pretty wonderful,” she acknowledged. “People are kind of captive in those moments to something, and I think that’s perfectly fine.”
The Emmy Award winner recognized that while there’s been many times that Carrie has “made mistakes” or “not been mature in love,” she still appreciates her on-screen alter ego.
“I think, fundamentally, Carrie is an extraordinarily decent and good person – an extremely devoted friend, she’s generous of spirit and time, in all she has to offer,” said Parker.
After “AJLT” premiered in 2021 and “SATC” arrived on Netflix in 2024, Gen Z fans became Carrie’s biggest critics, deeming her once-celebrated actions selfish and toxic.
The younger generation’s biggest issue with Carrie was her on-again, off-again relationship with Chris Noth’s Mr. Big, which spanned six seasons and bled into “AJLT,” in which Big dies in the first episode.
But Parker has firmly been on Carrie’s side despite the online hate for the character.
In April, Parker was on “Today with Jenna & Friends” and dismissed the idea that she’s ever wanted Carrie to make a different decision.
“It’s been such a sort of extraordinary experience,” she said about portraying Carrie. “I try to describe it as being contractually obligated to play somebody else — be somebody else — for about 27 years, to behave in ways which would be illegal if I, as a married person with children, ways in which I would behave in the city or with men.”
Parker also explained that she has “implicit trust and faith” in “AJLT” showrunner Michael Patrick King to validate Carrie’s choices.
