Sarah Jessica Parker wants everyone to stop making a fuss about getting older.
Through the years, Parker has shared her thoughts on society’s obsession with looking young and stressed that stopping time isn’t her priority.
Like many A-listers, Parker’s journey with aging has been visible to fans through her work in TV, namely her role as Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City and the reboot And Just Like That.
When the spinoff debuted in December 2021, Parker, along with her costars Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis, was scrutinized for rocking gray hair and showing wrinkles.
Parker was quick to condemn the backlash, calling the criticism, “misogynist chatter.”
“Gray hair, gray hair, gray hair. Does she have gray hair?’” Parker told Vogue in her December 2021 cover story. “I’m sitting with Andy Cohen, and he has a full head of gray hair, and he’s exquisite. Why is it OK for him? I don’t know what to tell you people!”
Parker told Vogue that it doesn’t seem like she’d be able to win over the haters even if she did get work done. “It almost feels as if people don’t want us to be perfectly OK with where we are, as if they almost enjoy us being pained by who we are today, whether we choose to age naturally and not look perfect, or whether you do something if that makes you feel better,” she continued. “I know what I look like. I have no choice. What am I going to do about it? Stop aging? Disappear?”
Scroll below to read what Parker has said about aging naturally, getting plastic surgery and more:
Parker Thinks Getting Botox Would Impact Her Acting Career
She explained in an October 2023 interview with The Telegraph that she prefers to not receive Botox injections because, “I’m an actor — I have to move my eyebrows.”
Parker continued, “I’m meant to be sharing emotions and communicating with my face.” She also shared that she doesn’t think her husband, Matthew Broderick, would be OK with her receiving the treatments.
Elsewhere in the interview, Parker said the continuous conversations surrounding women and aging have her “confused.”
“I am so confused by the fact that the majority of men my age are simply never asked about aging,” she told The Telegraph. “We all wake up, have a million things going on, and just need to get on with our days — I just don’t understand the emphasis that is placed on the pondering of aging.”
Parker Said She’d ‘Look Like a Lunatic’ If She Got Plastic Surgery
In the December 2010 issue of Elle, Parker admitted, “I don’t know what I can do about aging. Yes, I am aging. Oh my God, I’m aging all the time. It’s like those flowers that wilt in front of you in time-lapse films.”
She continued, “But what can I possibly do? Look like a lunatic?”
She Doesn’t Feel ‘Brave’ for Owning Her Gray Hair
“It became months and months of conversation about how brave I am for having gray hair,” Parker told Allure in June 2022, recalling paparazzi photos from the year before that focused on her hair. “I was like, please, please applaud someone else’s courage on something!”
Parker Doesn’t See Age As ‘Something to Worry About’
“I don’t really think about my age, I don’t see it as something to worry about,” she told Vogue France in January 2023. “I don’t know if it’s denial or that I just don’t want to face reality.”
She added, “I don’t see the point of trying to suspend time. Of course, I do care about my appearance from time to time and I do want to look presentable when it’s appropriate. But in any case, I really can’t do much about what people think of my appearance.”
Parker Couldn’t Help But Wonder If She Should Get a Facelift — But Ultimately Decided Against It
In a June 2023 interview on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM show, Parker revealed that she “missed out” on getting a face lift. The topic came up when Stern asked her if it was true that Steve Martin had written her a note decades before telling her she was beautiful and that she could be a leading lady. Martin had done so around the time he and Parker both starred in the 1991 movie L.A. Story.
Parker explained, “I think that story … came from me when I was cast in L.A. Story, it was as if Steve Martin was saying, ‘I think you’re attractive, you can play these kinds of parts.’” Stern then asked Parker, “When you look in the mirror you don’t see a good-looking human being?”
Parker admitted that she doesn’t “really like looking at myself … I mean I think I’m fine.”
The actress went on to share that she’s had thoughts about getting Botox or other cosmetic treatments but wonders if it’s “too late.”
“I honestly think I missed out on the facelift. The old fashioned good one,” Parker told Stern. “The one you have when you’re 44.”
While Parker has reservations about going under the knife, she doesn’t judge those who have. “I do understand why people make the change because there is so much emphasis put on especially women’s looks.”
Carrie Bradshaw considered a facelift during season 1 episode six of And Just Like That. During the episode, Carrie met with a consultant who showed her she could look “15 years” younger. “Oh, I remember her,” Carrie gushed. While she was tempted to go through with the procedure, the writer decided she “loved the last 15 years” and wanted her face to reflect that.
She Isn’t ‘Delusional’ About Getting Older
In an August 2023 interview with Allure, Parker shared that she has no interest in getting a time machine, but is focused on the small efforts she can “make toward feeling okay.”
She shared that she doesn’t “spend much time” thinking about her appearance. “I like to be graceful with myself,” she continued. “It’s not that I don’t have an ego, that I don’t have a decent, healthy amount of vanity, but I just don’t want to spend that much time really deconstructing it at all. I’m not delusional. I know that age adds up … I get it.”
“I have to look in the mirror for work a lot, and I can’t be in total denial about the reality, and I’d like to feel good, and I’d like other people to think I’m presentable. Beyond that it’s out of my hands,” Parker said. “People have opinions. That’s the way the world works. Do I wish people were nicer to each other, especially women? Sure. Is it going to dominate the way I choose to live and how much time I devote to hoping to appeal to them? I have no interest after a while.”
