Sarah Jessica Parker recently got candid about her own #MeToo experience. The Divorce actress sat down with NPR host Terry Gross to discuss how a famous actor had made her feel uncomfortable on set.
“The nature of the person who I felt was really the instigator, this was a grown man; a very big movie star,” Sarah Jessica Parker said. “He was baked, meaning his personality, it was cooked. He was a formed person and that wasn’t going to change.”
“I think no matter how evolved or how modern I thought I was[…]I didn’t feel as powerful as the man who was behaving inappropriately[…]”
Sarah Jessica Parker was so miserable on set, she reported the harassment to her agent. Afterward, the co-star changed his behavior. “I didn’t have to listen to jokes about me or my figure or what people thought they could talk me into doing. All these men and, that just stopped.”
The actress did not name the movie star who had harassed her or the set that harassment occurred on, but that hasn’t stopped the wild speculation. Did the harassment take place on Sex and the City? If so, which of Parker’s male co-stars was responsible?
Sarah Jessica Parker’s story is just one more example of how the unequal power balance in Hollywood can create an environment that allows sexual violence to flourish. She adds her name to a long list of actresses who are also vocal survivors, including Evan Rachel Wood, Alyssa Milano, Laura Dern, Rose McGowan, Charlize Theron, and many—too many—others.
In the wake of the #MeToo movement and the numerous accounts of sexual harassment and sexual assault post-Harvey Weinstein, Sarah Jessica Parker looked back on her past experiences with new insight.
“It really wasn’t, I would say, until about six or eight months ago that I started recognizing countless experiences of men behaving poorly, inappropriately, and all the ways that I had made it possible to keep coming to work or to remain on set, or to simply—as I’ve described it—just push it down, push it away, find a little space for it and move on,” she said.