CULTURED’s second annual CULT100 issue spotlights 100 names across five generations who are shaping our culture in real time. Some members of the list are household names; others have been working behind the scenes to make possible the encounters that stop us in our tracks. They are all thinking big, sharing generously, and embodying courage. We hope their work makes you a little braver, too. Order your copy of the CULT100 issue here.
In February, Sarah Jessica Parker emerged from an early dinner with Andy Cohen and Amy Sedaris—the motley trio calls themselves the “Nitwitz”—at her longtime favorite Italian restaurant, Gene’s, only to find herself sockless in a blizzard. “When we walked there, the weather was one thing. When we left, we found ourselves in the midst of [what felt like] a fake snowstorm—it was so unbelievable and perfect,” she tells me over Zoom a few weeks later.
The scene was like something out of a movie (specifically Sex and the City, the movie), and Parker did what any good actor would do: She pulled out her phone and started filming. “Everybody was excited,” she continues. “You could feel it. So we kept walking west, and we saw all the snow plows [moving down Seventh Avenue]. It felt very planned, you know, like our city at work—our municipal workers out there doing their jobs.”
To most New Yorkers, the sight of snow plows wouldn’t be much to write home about. But for Parker, who was perhaps a little tipsy post-dinner, it was thrilling. She took it all in with a sense of childlike wonder. “Look at that proud plow,” she cooed in one of the two videos she later posted to her personal Instagram account, which has close to 10 million followers. A small fleet of them rattled down the street, their blades scraping against the gravel and producing an awful sound. “It’s a parade of plows!” Over 100,000 people liked the video.
Although we may know Parker best as Carrie, the buoyant, curly-haired sex columnist “joyfully tripping through Manhattan,” as she once described the famously clumsy SATC protagonist, I’d argue that one of the actor’s best performances has been playing Sarah Jessica Parker herself. In moments of darkness or uncertainty, I turn to SJP, not Carrie, for relief. She is remarkably consistent, relatably unrelatable, and, above all, deeply camp—a theater kid dying for you to give her an A+. Her Instagram account, which she runs herself, is the purest distillation of this spirit. (Trust me, you’ll want to watch the videos of her live-reacting to a solar eclipse in 2017.)
When we speak, Parker, who turned 60 in March, is instantly in character: “I feel [like] I should be thanking you,” she says, apologizing for being just two minutes late and for scheduling the call on a Saturday. (I would have done it on Christmas.) She’s just returned to the city via the Hampton Jitney, and her signature blonde mane is slicked back into a bun. She wears aviator reading glasses and a sage green, V-neck cashmere sweater tucked curiously into her bra. (I thought this was an unfortunate wardrobe malfunction until I noticed that her dangly necklace was tucked underneath her bra strap, hanging sideways over her armpit—a “classic” SJP self-styling move, a friend and longtime fan later explained.)
Although Parker may look and sound like Carrie, Carrie she is not. She is as diplomatic as a British royal and known for never cursing. She would ask you a million questions before revealing anything about her personal life, let alone her sex life, and rather than wonder aloud about whatever’s on her mind that day, she speaks slowly, weighing her words with care.
One thing Parker and Bradshaw do have in common, however, is their undying love for New York. SJP has played the role of unofficial ambassador for the city willingly and without fail since at least 1979, when she was cast as "Annie" on Broadway at the age of 13. While playing the part, she was recruited to sing “Tomorrow” on the steps of the New York Public Library as part of an anti-littering campaign—an early foreshadowing of her calling to cheer up New York when it’s down.
“I don’t have enormous faith in what’s happening at City Hall. That’s a problem for me. Who is the parent of New York right now?” —Sarah Jessica Parker
A few days before our interview, the city experienced a handful of unseasonably warm early spring days that released a sudden burst of optimism into the air. Parker took it in with as much glee as the snowstorm. “Something happens to New Yorkers on the first day it cracks 50 degrees,” she tells me. “For one thing, so many straight guys in shorts.” Life here for Parker is not all rainbows and snowflakes, though. “Simultaneous with these eruptions of dazzle, there’s so much to be worried about,” she muses. She’s concerned about government funding for libraries, public schools, and the arts, among other things, and speaks passionately on the subject. “I don’t have enormous faith in what’s happening at City Hall. That’s a problem for me. Who is the parent of New York right now?”
As much as I agree, I feel the need to guide our conversation back to the proud plows. Please, more proud plows! For years, Parker’s unfiltered Instagram has provided me with a steady stream of bite-size, innocent reminders of why I’m so lucky to live where I do (in addition to LOLs). Recently, it also provided her with a new job. On New Year’s Eve in 2022, Parker was scrolling through her feed when she came across a post from the official account of the Booker Prize, the prestigious English literary award, in which three judges discuss the daunting task of reading 170 novels in seven months. “Oh let me try!!!!” she commented with characteristic ebullience. The prize’s chief executive reached out. This year, Parker is among a group of judges that includes literary critic Chris Power and novelist Kiley Reid. She’s also running SJP Lit, her imprint with the independent publisher Zando. “I’m literally always reading,” she lets out with a touch of exasperation. “I’m always, always, always reading.”
Carrie, it turns out, also has literary designs. In the third season of And Just Like That..., which filmed in New York last summer and premieres this May, the show’s lead can’t help but dabble in fiction—and SJP worked closely with production to select the books that appeared on screen. “She’s in this beautiful home that she’s very lucky to have, and it feels a little bit like she’s at sixes and sevens again, but she’s so much older and it feels less out of control, even though she can’t control how she finds herself there,” Parker says cryptically of her character’s next chapter.
In any case, I think it’s safe to say viewers don’t watch AJLT for the plot. (“God, what even happened,” replied a screenwriter friend when I asked him for last season’s SparkNotes; all he could recall is that Carrie moved to Gramercy and that Aidan, who announced he would not be coming with her, wore a “jacket that [he] kinda liked.”)
Instead, we watch—and have always watched, and will continue to watch—to keep hanging out with Parker, who describes the upcoming season as being “as happy and tasty as a soufflé can be.” In a way, she herself is a sort of human dessert; it’s hard not to enjoy her very carefully measured sweetness, which keeps us coming back again and again. Never change, SJP. Never get too slick, too jaded—too, well, Carrie.
A few days before the “proud plow” post, on the first of the month, Parker posted the caption “Rabbit rabbit” for good luck. It’s a superstition she’s had for decades, which later morphed into an Instagram tradition. “I’m always a little afraid to look at comments because you never know what you might come across,” she says of her Internet habits, “but what’s so nice about posting on the first of the month is that it’s a little bit of positivity, and everybody wants a spoonful of it.”
Parker takes a pause. “I don’t want to give anyone any artificial ‘positivity,’” she clarifies. “It’s just a hopeful little wish.”
THE CULT100 QUESTIONNAIRE
What keeps you up at night?
I have children, therefore it’s just assumed that I am up no matter what—whether things are perfectly fine or there’s potential for worry. But also lately, world events are really worrisome.
What’s one book, work of art, or film that got you through an important moment of your life?
About two years ago, I went to Amsterdam because the largest collection of Vermeers was gathered together for the first time at the Rijksmuseum. My husband and I went for three days to see those paintings. They will never travel again—it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences. On the last day we were there, we also got to see Van Gogh’s last 72 pieces, which were being shown for the last time. We both knew when we were leaving that we’d never forget it.
If you could attribute your success to a single quality of yours, what would it be?
Curiosity and hard work.
Hair by Chris McMillan
Makeup by Elaine Offers for Exclusive Artists and Tom Ford Beauty
Nails by Gina Eppolito-Cohen
Production by Dionne Cochrane
Photography Assistance and Set Coordination by Jojo Roy
Photography Assistance by Kyle Thompson and Max D’Amico
Styling Assistance by Natalie Gilhool, Bonnie Robbins, and Chloe Jenkins
Production Assistance by Brittany Thompson and Thalia Saint-Lôt
Location: Pier 59 Studios
