Sarah Jessica Parker Was Too Shy To Show Skin On Sex And The City
When you think of "Sex and the City," the first word of the show definitely indicates some level of sexual debauchery occurring. While there is certainly an abundance of explicit and hilariously lewd scenes — who could forget that awkward tantric sex workshop — not everyone stripped down for the show.
Our favorite main character and narrator Carrie Bradshaw, portrayed by Sarah Jessica Parker, didn't appear nude on set. Although she had an abundance of suitors, Carrie was never shown doing anything more than a steamy makeout scene. For Parker, knowing the nature of the show, she had no qualms about other actors appearing nude on SATC.
"I never had any judgments about anybody else doing it, it wasn't like a morality thing," she said on "The Howard Stern Show." "If somebody else felt comfortable doing it, I kind of, I was admiring of them." Yet, Parker hesitated to bare her own skin on "Sex and the City."
Why did Sarah Jessica Parker avoid nudity on SATC?
Sarah Jessica Parker loved the idea of the hit HBO show but told creator Darren Star that she was hesitant about having to show off her body. "I thought the script was really interesting and really exciting, and different, and fresh, and I'd never seen anything like that," she told Stern. "The only thing I said to him that I was concerned about was that I just didn't feel comfortable doing nudity, and I suspected that if it wasn't in the pilot, it would be a part of the series."
Thankfully, Star wasn't bothered at all. "He said, 'Don't do it then. I don't care. We'll have other actors; if they feel comfortable doing it, they'll do it, but you do not have to.'" Just in case, the actress had an iron-clad no-nudity clause in her contract, preventing her from having to bare it all on screen.
Although the actress often felt pushed to reveal herself to the camera, she stuck to her guns for a very simple reason. "I just never felt comfortable being nude. I didn't think it would change perception of me or kind of create opportunities that I might not be interested in, I was just shy."
How is And Just Like That different from SATC?
Sarah Jessica Parker is still too shy to be nude onscreen, but she feels like that's not the most important part of Carrie's character. Even with Carrie's dialogue, Parker wanted to represent the author as a writer at heart. "Carrie Bradshaw's a writer, and she's really, really, really thoughtful about what she says, how she says it, when she says it, who's she saying it to, and if we want to use language, let's be really thoughtful about when she uses it, we can be smart about it," Parker explained to Stern.
While her stance on nudity is the same in "And Just Like That," sex is still at the heart of the series. The show explores how women grow in their sexuality as they age. Speaking to Today, Kristin Davis, who plays Charlotte York Goldenblatt, says that Charlotte has been able to become more comfortable as a sexual being. "Because Harry is fully accepting and it's a positive relationship and they have wonderful sex ... and you'll see more of it," she said.
Though the ladies still meet up for an inordinate amount of cocktails and dinners together, their issues are more than just petty dating problems. The show broaches on topics such as dating while grieving, exploring queerness later in life, race, and parenting. The original wasn't all fluff, but there are several moments from "Sex and the City" that didn't age well, allowing the sequel series to right the wrongs of the past.