PALIN MITENK BLOG

By Elaine Lipworth

'The place where I feel least stressed out is Manhattan. It's my favourite place to be,' says Sarah Jessica


From grappling with Hugh Grant in her latest film to juggling all-night SATC shoots with the demands of three young children, Sarah Jessica Parker certainly has her hands full at the moment. No wonder the world's most famous fashion icon now prefers putting her feet up to shopping for shoes…

Sarah Jessica Parker hasn’t slept for 24 hours. She’s just finished an all-night shoot for the second Sex And The City movie when she meets me at 6am to talk about her latest film, Did You Hear About the Morgans?, a sharply written romcom co-starring Hugh Grant.

We’re having a coffee near the Greenwich Village home she shares with her husband of 12 years, 47-year-old actor Matthew Broderick (star of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Election and The Producers) and their three children. And when she gets home she’ll have six-month-old twin daughters Marion and Tabitha (born via a surrogate last summer) to feed, and seven-year-old son James Wilkie to walk to school.

But this is the most energetic 44-year-old I have ever met, and she manages to look lovely – even at this unearthly hour – in pale blue Closed jeans over sand-coloured Uggs, with a grey cashmere jumper and an old Rick Owens jacket. ‘It’s very cosy,’ she says. ‘This is what I wear to take my son to school. I get him dressed first, I get dressed last – and always for the weather.’

She clearly loves motherhood, but there are no plans to stay at home full time. As well as her film career, she has a contract with cosmetics company Garnier and two perfumes: her third, SJP NYC, launches in the UK in May. ‘Sometimes I worry about being overextended, but I really love being a wife and a mother and I also love working. I’ve worked all my life and I’m lucky that I get to do both.’

She grew up poor in Nelsonville, an Ohio mining town, one of four children. Her parents divorced when she was very young; her mother remarried and had four more children. A successful child actress, SJP appeared in TV shows and plays and at 12 landed the lead role in the original Broadway production of Annie. As an adult, long before Carrie Bradshaw, she was regarded in Hollywood as a skilled actress, with roles in films such as LA Story and The First Wives Club, but it was with the international phenomenon of SATC in 1998 that she became an overnight icon.


'Sometimes I worry about being overextended': SJP reveals her life is a juggling act

She won’t be drawn on plot details about SATC2 (there are internet rumours that Carrie and husband Big will have a baby) but we do know that Miley Cyrus, Liza Minnelli and Penélope Cruz all have cameos.

Meanwhile, in contrast to all that city glamour, Did You Hear About the Morgans? sees Sarah and Hugh playing a battling Manhattan couple whose relationship deteriorates further when circumstances maroon them on a ranch in the wilds of Wyoming. Coping reluctantly with unfamiliar country life (while falling off horses and being chased by a bear), they are forced to slow down and reassess their lives.

Not something SJP herself gets much chance to do these days…

Q How thrilling is it to have your daughters? I know you’d wanted more children for some time.

A Yes, and it’s wonderful, it’s a blessing, we feel really privileged. It was a different experience, in obvious ways, from having James Wilkie, but it was very magical. It’s brought us unspeakable joy. They are tiny little girls just figuring out who they are, and it is a delight.

Q How’s your son getting on with his sisters?

A Babies are not terribly interesting to a seven-year-old, but he’s very proud to be an older brother – he understands how lucky he is. I think your first-born is a special experience: we have a remarkable young boy in our lives and now I feel really grateful that he has siblings to share his good fortune. I belong to a big family, so I know the value of having brothers and sisters.

Q Is James Wilkie aware that he has famous parents?

A When we leave our house and there are photographers outside, he’s certainly aware that something’s different for him, but so far he’s just pretty much interested in the things all seven-year-olds are interested in – primarily himself.

Q How would you feel if your children wanted to follow you into show business? Do you ever feel you missed out on childhood because of your acting?

A With so many siblings, it wasn’t as if I missed out on being with other children. I had a great childhood. I don’t think I would encourage my children to pursue acting until they had gone to college, but then if that’s what they were to choose I would be supportive. James Wilkie doesn’t show any interest so far, and the twins are not expressing anything other than a desire to be fed and have a nappy change…


Sarah Jessica with co-star Hugh Grant in their new romcom

Q So how do you manage three children as well as several jobs?

A I feel like I do it the same way, for better or worse, as any other working mother! At the moment the twins sleep a good six or seven hours, and wake up as late as 7am – they are being incredibly cooperative! Your children are your priority; you do everything you can to make sure they are content. And you get into bed at night thinking of all the things you did wrong, and you hope things will be better the next day. I think women tend to put more pressure on themselves to do everything exceptionally well, which is an impossibility. But most working mothers probably do a lot better than I do, with far less support than I have. So I don’t think that I’m any champion. I muddle through the best that I can.

Q What kind of character are you playing in your new film?

A I am a very successful estate agent, Meryl Morgan, estranged from my husband, played by Hugh Grant, and we live in New York City. He’s had an affair, and is very contrite and trying desperately to woo me back.

Q So how do you end up marooned in the wilds of Wyoming? (Although actually I know you filmed it in New Mexico…)

A We are living separately, and he convinces me to have dinner with him one night, and then we go to one of the houses I am selling and the potential buyer is murdered in front of us. The next day the murderer tries to murder me, so we are put in a witness protection programme together. Wyoming is a land far away, culturally, from New York, and of course it is a great culture shock and very comedic – and the hope is that perhaps, during the course of our time together, the marriage will fix itself…

Q Did Hugh Grant live up to your expectations?

A Up to and beyond. He’s absolutely fantastic – smart and funny and incredibly hard-working: the kind of self-deprecating guy who says, ‘I’m bad at Trivial Pursuit’, and then wins it. A delight.
‘Hugh Grant is fantastic: the kind of self-deprecating guy who says, “I’m bad at Trivial Pursuit”, then wins it’
Q I know you are a confirmed New Yorker like your character. How did you cope stuck in the countryside for a couple of months?

A It was tough. Hugh is a city person too, and we were thrown into an environment which was very different for both of us – hours away from cellphone and BlackBerry use – riding horses, shooting guns, jogging in the desert and working with animals.

Q What sort of animals?

A Oh, horses and cows – and a massive bear. When you land at Wyoming airport there are signs about how to be safe, because bears roam Wyoming very freely. There’s a whole series of rules to follow if you come into contact with a bear. And of course in the film we do.

Q But isn’t it relaxing to get away from the stresses of city life?

A No, actually the place where I feel least stressed out is Manhattan. I’m comfortable with all the noises of the city and its accompanying humanity. It’s my favourite place to be. I can’t imagine a time when I would want to leave New York City. You’d have to drag me kicking and screaming. Matthew would never want to. He was born and raised here, our son was born here, and it’s my home.

Q You are also a Goodwill Ambassador for Unicef and a social campaigner. And you’re a big supporter of President Obama — how do you think he’s doing?

A I think he’s ascended to our ‘throne’ with a lot of grace and a surprising amount of common sense, given that he’s a fairly young fellow. I think he has a great sense of what people need right now. He seems very intuitive and he’s a great listener and I’m thrilled by his desire to engage in real diplomacy. I feel he doesn’t shy away from the things that are daunting and so far, while it’s an incredibly challenging time economically and politically, he seems to be incredibly capable. I’m very impressed with how he’s reaching out globally and engaging other countries.

Q And how do you combine your political interests with being a fashion icon?

A Fashion is not the focus of my life. I dress like a lot of mothers – quickly! – and hope to be presentable and not embarrass my son; honestly, that’s my only goal. I am sure I am a disappointment to many people, but not to my son. I will always love
a beautiful dress, but I haven’t shopped in a really long time. I borrow clothes from designers for special events – it’s like the library, you return them in good faith, then you get to borrow more.

Q So, returning to your role as shopaholic Carrie Bradshaw — what can we look forward to in the new movie?

A This film is sort of the antidote to the first one, which had a lot of sadness in it; it was really a grown-up tale. This movie is more like a caper, a romp. It’s fun and big and cinematic and all the girls [she and co-stars Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon and Kim Cattrall] are together a lot more.


Q You look fabulous — and natural, unlike many Hollywood stars these days. Would you ever consider plastic surgery yourself?

A I don’t really have any hard and fast rules about that. People can choose to preserve their youth in whatever way makes them feel comfortable. I don’t hide my age – I just try to take decent care of myself. I wash my face at night and put on moisturiser, but I don’t spend a huge amount of time thinking about the ageing process, because it’s inevitable. I want to look like myself, and I don’t want to pretend that time has stood still for me and nobody else. I’m encouraged when I see women who look their age rather than 20 years younger.

Q What are the positive aspects to life in your 40s?

A Well, I don’t mean to sound trite, but I think the older you get, hopefully the smarter you get and the better you become at problem solving. One of the big advantages of getting older is experience and wisdom.

Q Do you ever get to enjoy ordinary domestic life?

A I do, but I’m not going to lie to you, I haven’t cooked recently. But when I’m not working I cook and we all eat together every single night. Roast chicken, lamb stew – I’ll buy whatever looks good at the butcher’s.

Q What about time for you and Matthew together?

A We don’t really have any quiet time at the moment, but sometimes we’ll have Saturday night together after I put the kids to bed. Any time spent alone is great, when everybody else is quiet (ha!) and asleep. That is very rare.

Q Is it total chaos at home with the babies?

A It’s crazy all day long, but you adapt very quickly. It is daunting, yeah, but we welcome the chaos. And as they get older there will be more chaos, once they start talking and crawling around and getting into mischief. It will be insane, it will be wonderful – and it is exactly what we wanted.

Q So what’s the trick of keeping a marriage strong when you both have busy, high-profile careers?

A We don’t live somewhere that shines such a strong spotlight on our marriage [she means LA]. And we live in a city where the engine is not the entertainment industry, it’s art and commerce and education and museums. I think we’ve made choices in our life that protect us from the glare and allow the relationship to be real.

• Did You Hear About the Morgans? will be released on Friday


source: dailymail