Oh, Sarah Jessica. This is not a great cover shot. But it’s a million times better than her epically terrible December Elle cover, in which most people were too distracted by what appeared to be SJP’s enormous honker. They didn’t even notice she talked about dirty diapers, comparing them to smelling a fresh loaf of bread. So… I won’t complain about the cover shot, but I will bitch about the entire theme of the photo shoot: SJP, carrying shopping bags and such, in front of hand-drawn images of New York. Um… we get it. You’re Carrie Bradshaw. Now try something different.
Glamour’s got the full interview up online (here), but I’ll just do the highlights. Let’s see… SJP is promoting Did You Hear About the Morgans? It’s a rom-com costarring Hugh Grant. Something nice: they both seem to really like each other, and they‘ve worked together before, on Extreme Measures. Something bad: the film looks horrible. What else? Oh, SJP describes the first Sex and the City movie as “brave”. I have another word for it – “terrible”. SJP also talks about her “regrets”. Like the fact that she’s been pulling 18 hour days on SATC just a few months after her twin daughters were born.
GLAMOUR: So let’s get to your next film project: Sex and the City 2. How has Carrie evolved?
SJP: The first movie had a lot of sadness in it, and it was very brave about breaking the rules of romantic comedy. This one is very much the antidote for that: It’s a romp. It’s about the idea of women’s and men’s roles in marriage, and old traditions versus new ones. The story is really fun, but it’s also about something.GLAMOUR: I think movies present a romanticized ideal of love. But you don’t get to see what happens after the film ends. What does love look like once you’ve been in a long-term relationship?
SJP: I think when you are younger, you get swept away by grand gestures…. When you have children and years invested, it’s much more complicated. It’s the day-to-day stuff: the kind of parent you are, the kind of partner you are. It’s the little and big things as opposed to just the big things. But you are not meant to know that when you are younger, so I don’t think anybody should regret the choices they made in their twenties.GLAMOUR: And now you’re a new mother again. Congratulations, and what’s it like?
SJP: Nothing can really describe what it’s like to have two new little girls. It’s been very different than when James arrived, since our family expanded in an untraditional way. We didn’t plan on having two, but were doubly blessed, and it’s been just wonderful. [Tabitha and Marion] just turned four months old today! One would prefer to be held 24 hours a day, and the other is already suffering from type A issues. It’s been amazing but complicated because of my current work schedule, which I have enormous regrets about.GLAMOUR: How do you juggle it all?
SJP: It is the eternal conflict of every working woman, and I am not complaining, because I’ve done this to myself. And I have a wonderful, wonderful nanny who allows me to be a working person. The great challenge for me is to be all things to all people; I want to be a great mother, and I want to feel good when I’m at work. But it is hard.GLAMOUR: So how would you characterize your own style?
SJP: I really love beautiful, well-made clothes. I don’t shop [a lot], so I tend to have pieces for a long time. I like mixing vintage with newer designers.GLAMOUR: Flash back to 1984, when you were in Footloose. What were you wearing then?
SJP: In the eighties, I was wearing a lot of work boots and oversize men’s dinner jackets and floppy hats with flowers. I was making every mistake that was appropriate for the time. Eighty percent of pictures from that period deserve a cringe, but I don’t because I enjoyed it!GLAMOUR: How would you say your style has evolved over the years?
SJP: It’s just simpler; I don’t buy anything trendy. I used to be more easily seduced by some momentary idea of what was fashionable. Now I’m slightly savvier. I still have the same ideas in my head about what looks good on me and what doesn’t. I still will not wear turtlenecks.GLAMOUR: Why not?
SJP: I feel like I’m having a panic attack in them. I’m so short that the little bit of height I have is taken and consumed by the turtleneck. My son won’t wear them, either!GLAMOUR: What’s your favorite store to find a bargain?
SJP: I still believe in thrift stores: It’s the one place you can be assured of finding something very unique.GLAMOUR: Once upon a time, thrift stores were all you could afford—you grew up very modestly.
SJP: I feel lucky because [my background gave me] an appreciation for sitting here and having this tea and drinking out of this cup. I am not blind to it. I don’t want my children to feel they have a sense of entitlement. I want them to work hard and be challenged. That’s hard to do when you have everything you need and want, so I am working on those values all the time.GLAMOUR: Where do you see your life in 10 years?
SJP: Being so greedy, I would like more of the same. Most important to me is my home life and the well-being of my children. Everything as it is now would be thrilling.
[From Glamour]
Well, she gives a good interview. I liked the part about her trying to impart the working class values she grew up with onto her own kids. Call me crazy, but I don’t see SJP and Matthew Broderick’s kids being spoiled little brats, so in that area, they seem to be doing a good job. I also liked the part about her turtleneck-phobia. I’m like that now, too. I used to love turtlenecks, but then I began to realize that they don’t compliment my frame whatsoever, and that I hated feeling strangled all the time. But I think SJP would look cute in a turtleneck! She should try it. She might be surprised.
Glamour photographs by Patrick Demarchelier, courtesy of Glamour online.
*yawn*
I don’t dislike her, but I don’t find her that exciting either.
Loved Square Pegs though!
Wow, no mention of her hubby? Or did I miss it? I don’t know but they haven’t really seemed happy for awhile now. To each their own but she always makes me think of hair coloring commercials.
SJP, here’s a little tip…take it for what it’s worth (not much) as I’m certainly no fashionista.
But—I think your hair is eating up your neck, making your face, as well as that dainty schnozzola, look longer than they otherwise might.
@Shelly: I was thinking the same thing. She has a wonderful, wonderful… nanny?! Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that she isn’t trying to hide the fact she enlists a nanny’s help and I think it’s really cool to acknowledge how good the nanny is. But mention of Matt is kinda obviously missing. If I were him, I’d be hurt. Unless, of course, they are not in a relationship anymore (which, tbh, could very well be the case) and then it wouldn’t matter. Though I’d probably feel as if SJ had spilled the beans unwittingly.
Oh and lest I forget….have to laugh about the “working class” values bit.
Where will she teach them from???? The estate in the Hamptons or their Manhattan digs?
She could just describe them as good values, strong and positive values. But she has to add the working class tag. Silly Liberal Guilt.
I never understand the snark toward SJP. Of course,I never got into SATC-even the show; Only saw a rerun or two on t.v.
never the movie.
But,I’ve always loved her as an actress-she fills in roles well,regardless how well the script was/wasn’t written. I think she can elevate an ensemble cast,too. IMO.
I just like her-and she’s talented,if not ‘beautiful’. Who cares if she’s classically beautiful?
She’s fun and unique.
SATC might have ruined her for me,so I’m glad I never got into it.
Remember LA Story? w/steve martin? she was classic in that.
Can anyone really see SJP rummaging through the racks of Salvation Army? Seriously, just tell the truth..you wear whatever your stylist tells you to otherwise you just wear sweats.
I always like her on Family Ties.
SJP does having working values. She grew up modestly and made alot of money which she has worked hard for and I am sure she will teach her children the same thing. Even though I hate Donald Trump I think he has done the same with his kids. Parents with money can instill working vales on thier children. And silly liberal guilt? Good values are good values regardless of your social/political status.
I am immune to SJP. The nanny is giving the kids working clss values.
“Wilbuuurrrr”
@Kevin LOL
Working class values like ‘Never look a gift horse in the mouth?’
I appreciate her at least admitting to the struggle between work and family, and that a nanny is involved. Still don’t understand WHY she’s doing all that, why plan a movie to film at the same time as baby’s arriving, when you’re the EP and star and can change it?
It is a little weird she doesn’t mention Matthew. You’d expect her to say that he takes over while she’s working, and then vice versa.
LolaBella,,,good one! How about never change horses midstream? Or, you can lead a horse to water, but if its for this nag it better be bottled! (ok not too sure on that last one)
Please, what are “type A issues”?
@Ron. You summed up what I was thinking. To add, from what I heard SJP grew up poor and on welfare, not working class. While “values” might be in the mind of the beholder, I think it’s pretty presumptive to call it “Silly liberal guilt”, that’s like calling living above your means (like many Americans do) Silly capitalist thinking. At least she’s making an effort to not have another set of spoiled brats who could potentially grow up to be Hiltons 2.0.
Listen. Might not sound PC but she needs to go into hiding. She is responsible for other uglies thinking they have a shot because of her. Even in my personal life, I’ve had these big horsefaced women thinking who the hell they were and it disturbed me. Nothing more freaky than having someone who looks like this or Courtney Love vying for the same man. They always lose and, for some reason, don’t know why.
What are type A issues?
Probably means Type A personality (driven, workaholic, perfectionist, etc.) issues.
I love SJP, but when she said in that Harper’s Bazaar interview last year that she took scissors and CUT herself out of her Alexander McQueen dress she lost all “working class”, thrifty, second-hand store fashionista credibility with me. Like there wasn’t an army of assistants, friends, neighbors, nannies or loitering paparazzi who could have come over to help her start the zip on her $1000+ dress.
Also, TMZ getting pictures of her setting off to Morocco with over a dozen Louis Vuitton bags. Like she can’t buy Samsonite or something? Nauseating self-indulgent excess.
She’s a great comedienne, but she’s been out of touch for so long, she has no idea how out of touch she is. It’s like when millionaires Charlie Gibson or Chris Matthews describe themselves ad middle class. It’s the old rich white person version of street cred to pretend you’re still “working class” or “middle class”.
“Working Class values,” as in learning the value of a dollar because you’re one paycheque away from being homeless?
Not being hand-to-mouth poor but knowing destitution is right around the corner is pretty much the working class frame of mind now.
Used to be you could make good money in the factory and actually afford to buy the cars you made, get a house. Your wife didn’t have to work. One working class salary could float the boat.
The good ol’ days of working class are long gone. Now all that is left is the stench of its rotting corpse, so good luck with that Jess. I admire your optimism.
She is pure hypocrite.
These New York princesses never teach their kids anything. They’re all accessories to their public image.
Sarah Jessica Parker grew up in one of the worse parts of Cincinnati, in a large one-parent family, on welfare. She went to the School for Creative and Performing Arts and got a break when someone saw her doing “Annie” for the school and gave her a part on Broadway. She helped to support her mother and siblings for years. So, she is definitely NOT a NY princess!!
That’s what I thought snowball! But how could a newborn baby be driven, workaholic etc.?? That’s just weird.
As much as I believe that many of the rich rear their progeny to be useless, I think there are ways to instill decent character and discipline. It will always be an approximation, but you can try.
For example, instead of sending the kiddies to Paris for holiday, have them work to build houses in Costa Rica instead. If they want the latest PSP, have them help out the maid with the chores or volunteer for a soup kitchen in the Bronx.
There are wealthy people who are of formidable character and respectable values, but you do have to be very vigilant in how you raise them. William Buffett, for example, put all of his grandkids through any school they wanted to attend. After graduation, however, they were on their own. Anderson Cooper could have easily sailed on the coattails of his Vanderbilt name, but he chose not to.
Money is always effective. Just threaten their trustfunds.
wow twinkletoes… there’s probably one thing those “horsey faces” women likely have over you and that is a lack of crazy :/
What’s with all the hate for SJP? When did it start happening?
She’s very likeable and down-to-earth, as much as a rich actress can be anyway. She grew up poor, so I believe her when she says she appreciates that cup of tea.
I grew up poor (though I didn’t know we were poor until I started earning my own money) and appreciate what I have now. Even being able to pay my bills is a pleasure.
So yeah, I like SJP 🙂