Sarah Jessica Parker Gets Candid About Why She Almost Quit Sex And The City Before It Even Aired

Sarah Jessica Parker has admitted she almost pulled out of Sex And The City before the show even began airing.

In the mid-90s, SJP had appeared in films like The First Wives Club, Ed Wood and Hocus Pocus when she was cast as the lead in the show that would become a global phenomenon.

However, speaking to co-star Kristin Davis on a recent episode of her podcast Are You A Charlotte?, Sarah Jessica admitted that after the pilot episode proved enough for the show to be picked up by HBO, she then “panicked” and wanted to pull out completely.

“I was like, I can’t be on a TV show. I don’t think I’m suited for that life,” she recalled. “[The thought of working in TV] also kind of depressed me – I think that it was the idea of doing the same thing over and over and over again.”

At the time, she added, she was experimenting with different sorts of film and theatre work, and she worried that “the idea of a television series meant that I couldn’t do all those things”. 

“It just kind of felt like somebody was, you know, putting their hand over my mouth or something,” Sarah Jessica added.

Fortunately, her agents and the execs at HBO were able to talk her around, assuring her that if she didn’t enjoy the project, she could pull out when the first season was done.

But, there was one other appealing thought that led to SJP signing on the dotted line.

“The location was up the street from my house,” she revealed. “I remember thinking, ‘I can walk to work. I’m not driving on to a lot. I’m not getting on a freeway and hoping I get myself there’.”

“And I walked up to the location and I never looked back,” she quipped.

Sarah Jessica played Carrie in all six seasons of Sex And The City, earning her two Emmys (one as an actor, and the other as an actor), and later returned for the two divisive spin-off films.

More recently, she reprised the role in spin-off And Just Like That alongside co-stars Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, which returns for its third season later this month.