The Stunning Transformation Of Kristin Davis
Kristin Davis is making waves again these days and for a good reason: She's back on our screens in "And Just Like That..." as Charlotte York, former art curator and everyone's favorite slightly stuffy Upper East Side New Yorker from "Sex and the City." Davis has rejoined her castmates Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon, among others, for the "Sex and the City" revival, "And Just Like That" (via Today).
Before Davis became a worldwide name thanks to HBO, The Guardian noted that she was a young actress struggling to make ends meet in New York while waiting tables. Before that, she was a young teen who felt a little lost in South Carolina, turning to drinking to break out of her shell and eventually facing a choice: acting or alcohol. And even before that, she was a 10-year-old girl who got her start in local plays and caught the acting bug.
These days, Davis has a thriving career, two children she loves more than anything, and a life that she's proud of. Here's a look at the journey she's taken and what path has led her to each stop.
Kristin Davis grew up in South Carolina
While many "Sex and the City" fans will always think of Kristin Davis as a New York City girl, it turns out the actress actually grew up in South Carolina. Davis told Cinema.com that her parents were supporters of the arts, and she actually began acting when she was a kid. She explained, "I've been acting since I was 10 years old. I had two lines in 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves' at the community theater. I was very focused and I loved it."
However, Davis admits that while her parents thought the arts were an important part of anyone's education, they definitely weren't imagining a future in which that's what their daughter did full time.
Davis has also admitted that while she did briefly want to join the debutante scene in South Carolina (per The Guardian), her youth in the state wasn't always picture-perfect. Davis has revealed that she's a recovering alcoholic and that she began drinking while still a teen, as noted by The Week. "I'm kind of shy normally, so I felt like I needed help," she's shared. Ultimately, she said that she had to choose between pursuing her love of acting and drinking, and she ended up choosing the former.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
She was a waitress and a yoga teacher in her 20s
Like many who try to make a career in the entertainment industry, Kristin Davis had to go through a lot of hoops and odd jobs before she landed a real gig. After attending Rutgers University, Davis made her way to New York City, where she hoped to catch a break. Until an acting job came through, she had to wait tables, later telling The Guardian, "What can I say? I was very poor and I was a waitress, and it's hard to be a poor waitress in New York."
It turns out that Davis had a back-up plan in mind in case acting didn't pan out the way she hoped. As related by mindbodygreen, she got licensed to be a yoga teacher while in her 20s. Davis said that she got into the field before it had really caught on, so people thought she was a little odd. She explained, "I started doing yoga in my 20s. I did teacher training, that was what I was going to do if acting didn't work out."
As fate would have it, Davis never really had to take herself too seriously as a yoga teacher. She ended up making a big move that would change the course of both her personal and professional life only a few years later.
Kristin Davis moved to Los Angeles in the 1980s
Kristin Davis eventually made the migration from New York City to Los Angeles due to a writer's strike that happened in NYC in the 1980s. The actress pretty much loved the change immediately. Recalling her first reaction to The Guardian in an interview, she said, "The sun was shining, there were lots of auditions. I thought: 'This is fabulous!'" Equally fabulous was the fact that Davis was able to get work fairly quickly, starring as Brooke Armstrong on teen soap "Melrose Place."
"Melrose Place" was produced by a name that people would get used to seeing splashed across their screens while watching HBO years later: Darren Star, the co-producer of "Sex and the City." But in between "Melrose Place" and "Sex and the City," Davis dabbled in television with bit parts in "Friends," "ER," "Will & Grace," and "Seinfeld" (via Cinema.com).
Kristin Davis was cast on Sex and the City in 1998
Kristin Davis' big breakthrough came when she was cast as Charlotte York on "Sex and the City" in 1998. After initially being asked by Darren Star to try out for the role of Carrie Bradshaw — Davis told The Guardian it was a no go, explaining, "She smoked, she swore a lot, she was very hard, very cynical. I could never have pulled it off" — she won the role of Charlotte.
Davis' family was proud of her making it big in acting but admittedly had to hide the show from her aging grandmother. Once her grandmother passed, her father and mother fully embraced Davis' turn as Charlotte York. In fact, Davis told The Guardian that while her mother isn't the biggest fan of some of the story lines, her professor father uses the show as part of teaching his "Marriage and Sexuality" classes.
Davis has always fully embraced what "Sex and the City" opened up for her in terms of acting success. As she told the Evening Standard, she's not sure where she would be without the show. She said, "I think I would have done okay without it, but I don't think any of us would have had this kind of career at this age if it hadn't been for the larger thing 'Sex and the City' turned out to be, culturally."
The actress is protective of her relationships
As Kristin Davis is a woman who is constantly in the public eye, it's been inevitable that people would want to know everything they can about her personal life. Unlike some stars, she's chosen to keep many details of her private life exactly that — private. She has offered up a few details, telling The Guardian that she prefers men with green or brown eyes and has shared that any man who comes into her life will have to be okay with her dog.
Davis also admitted that while it would be nice to be in a relationship, she isn't the type of person who has to have a relationship to feel whole. If she does get into another relationship, she hopes that it's with someone who is also in the industry so that they can handle the realities of what her job is like. She told the publication, "Someone who understands our crazy world. I don't like to hurt anybody, and people can be so rude."
Kristin Davis made it clear she's not Charlotte York
While it can be tempting, even easy, to confuse an actor for a character they have played for a long time, Kristin Davis has always been clear that she and Charlotte York aren't exactly that much alike. This is especially true when it comes to their style and tastes. As she told Cinema.com, she feels that people are often disappointed when they meet her in real life and find out that she's not quite as fashion-forward as her TV counterpart.
She added that she often tries to dress in a pretty subdued way so she doesn't attract a lot of attention. Davis explained, "I am the antithesis of what Charlotte would wear, I am often wearing baggy, drab clothes for yoga and everyday, for working out. That is what I feel comfortable wearing, because I do not want to be recognized everywhere I go."
Davis noted that it's very important to her to have a true "distinction" between who she is in real life and who she is in on screen because otherwise there's too much "pressure" to try to be everything to everyone.
She made her health a priority
If there's one thing to know about Kristin Davis, it might just be that she is incredibly disciplined and focused on her health. She is fond of taking long walks with her dogs, telling Cinema.com that she lives in an ideal location for hiking and being outside in general. Plus, she has adopted long-term habits that have contributed to her overall positive health and demeanor. She explained, "I think it's good mentally to do that as well as physically. I enjoy Pilates and I do yoga at home where I get peace and quiet. I think it helps that I don't drink and I never smoked."
That doesn't mean that Davis hasn't had to deal with a lot of negative pushback as an actress. Happily, she said that no one at "Sex and the City" ever pushed any of the women to lose or gain weight for their roles, but that the world and people online certainly have. She told the Evening Standard, "Fat here, fat there. Hippy this, hippy that. That has been my entire career."
Kristin Davis became an ambassador for Oxfam
Kristin Davis has always done more than act, and in the 2000s, she showed that in a big way when she signed on as a global ambassador for Oxfam. The organization is described as "a global movement of people, working together to end the injustice of poverty." Davis has been incredibly dedicated to the organization, and while on her second trip to South Africa for the organization, she explained why the situation for so many who are served by Oxfam is so dire. As Davis put it, "These people are inspirational, but can't win the battle on their own. These communities need nurses and doctors. These wonderful people are holding up their communities and need our support" (via Oxfam America).
In 2015, she wrote an article published in Marie Claire that offered a glimpse into what a day is like in the day of an ambassador. In it, she was honest about the feelings she cycled through and admitted to being unsure of what her steps should be. She wrote, "I wonder aloud what I should do and the UNHCR staff says to, 'Welcome them!'" (via Marie Claire).
She became a mom in 2011
In 2011, Kristin Davis added to her family in a big way: She adopted daughter Gemma Rose Davis through domestic adoption. As she told People, becoming a mother had been part of Davis' plan for a long while. She shared, "Having this wish come true is even more gratifying than I ever had imagined. I feel so blessed."
The following year, Davis recounted what a nerve-wracking experience adoption can be while speaking to CNN's Anderson Cooper. Per People, Davis explained that in California, birth mothers have 48 hours after they decide to place their child for adoption until the act is considered final. Davis said, "They tell you that when [your child] first comes, you should think of it as babysitting in case the birth mom changes her mind."
In 2018, Davis became a mom again when she adopted her son. The news was confirmed on Facebook by journalist Marc Malkin.
In 2015, Kristin Davis revealed she'd been sober for 20 years
Kristin Davis has admitted she began drinking heavily as a teenager. According to The Week, she eventually went to rehab and made a choice between drinking and acting. In 2015, she had been sober for over 20 years, a choice that isn't always easy but that she is more than happy she made. Davis acknowledges that sometimes she'll be out and want to have a glass of wine, but that she's not sure the risk is worth it. As she put it, "Every once in a while, I'll be with friends and they'll be drinking red wine and I'll think, in a really innocent way, Oh wow, that's such a wonderful glass of red wine."
In 2018, Davis credited her role on "Sex and the City" with literally keeping her alive. While speaking on the podcast "Origins with James Andrew Miller," she said, "I'm an addict. I'm a recovering alcoholic. If I hadn't found acting ... acting is the only thing that made me want to ever get sober" (via Entertainment Weekly).
Parenting her children has taught Kristin Davis a lot about racism
Kristin Davis is very protective of her children, but she has been open one aspect of raising them: She has learned a lot about racism. As a white mother to Black children, Davis has been open about the responsibility she feels to make sure she's as open, educated, and aware of race-related concerns and problems that Black communities in the U.S. face.
Davis also told Jada Pinkett Smith and her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, on "Red Table Talk" that keeping her children firmly connected to Black communities has been incredibly important to her. She shared, "I work at that every day trying to figure out how I can make sure they have access to the Black community, that they're part of it, that they're not separated from it" (via Today).
That doesn't mean that it's always been easy for Davis and her children. As she later recalled to Pinkett Smith and Banfield-Norris, encountering racism directed at her child was particularly challenging. She said, "It's one thing to be watching it happening to other people and it's another thing when it's happening to your child — and you haven't personally been through it."
She has learned to trust herself as a mom
There's something that happens when an adult woman doesn't build her life around a relationship with a romantic partner, and it seems like it's something that Kristin Davis is tapped into. She told Romper that after one of her children starting developing eczema, she had to battle a lot of insecurities and questions about herself as a parent. Eventually, she realized that not having a partner in parenting meant she had to learn to trust herself, so that's what she did. She said, "In parenting there are just so many unknowns. But you figure it out. As a mom, I wish I had been more trusting of my own instincts."
In fact, in some ways, becoming a mom was one big exercise in hearing and believing in herself. As she told Jada Pinkett Smith on "Red Table Talk," in her late 30s, Davis felt very called to become a parent, so that's what she did. She said, "I still felt like there was a child out there that I needed to find that was my child ... I can't explain it. It was a spiritual kind of thing."
Kristin Davis is thrilled to be in And Just Like That
When the "Sex and the City" revival "And Just Like That" was announced, fans were thrilled — and so was Kristin Davis. Though Kim Cattrall elected to not join the cast an crew for this additional show, Davis returned alongside Cynthia Nixon and Sarah Jessica Parker.
Before the show premiered, the cast swung by "Today" and offered a glimpse into what fans could expect. At the time, Davis happily told the show, "I'm still married to Harry, thankfully, and my two daughters have been growing up. And with parenthood comes surprises." While being pressed for more, Davis merely added, "Life is not over when you turn 50."
But there is one aspect of "And Just Like That" that Davis hasn't been thrilled with, and that's the comments that people online are making about the three women at the center of the show. Davis told the Sunday Times that she was surprised that so many people have commented on the hair and faces of herself, Parker, and Nixon, saying that it really upsets her. She shared, "I feel angry and I don't want to feel angry all the time, so I don't look at it. I just know it's there."