Sarah Jessica Parker Was Left 'Sobbing' As She Was Bullied For Her Looks At Height Of Sex And The City Fame

Poor Sarah Jessica Parker…

Who doesn’t love Sex and the City, right? An iconic show with an iconic cast! But sadly, during its height of popularity, its lead was a victim of really harsh bullying.

SJP may have been beloved, but she was also the butt of so many jokes over the years it’s impossible to count. This wasn’t the internet we’re talking about either, this was a little early for that. There was no social media in the late ’90s. We’re talking about TV and print. Oof.

On a new episode of Call Her Daddy on Wednesday, she’s opening up about how all that made her feel. While chatting with host Alex Cooper, the 60-year-old admitted:

“[SATC] was probably a real test of my coping mechanisms because … I wasn’t prepared for public commentary. And I think that was really unpleasant at times, where people would have opinions. Not about the work.”

She went on to say the “misunderstanding” of her character Carrie Bradshaw by critics was one thing, reviews weren’t the issue. It was when they started coming for her appearance — that was an entirely different ballgame:

“It was the personal stuff that I was really not prepared for. At that time I thought I was a fairly confident person … but I think it really comes into question and is tested when you’re filleted, in a way.”

The actress said you can learn to be “better” from these kinds of experiences eventually, but “not all of us are good at it right away”:

“Up to that point, there was no chatter about me. … There was just my work … [Some of the hardest comments to stomach] were discussion of my physical person. Things I couldn’t change, things I wouldn’t change. Things I’d never considered changing.”

Sarah said all the chatter about her appearance “didn’t feel like it was actually a conversation” and instead just seemed mean and unproductive. And she couldn’t even respond!

“I didn’t feel like I could sit in a room and someone would say to me, ‘You’re really unattractive.’ And then I could say, ‘Wow. First of all, that’s hard to hear, but second of all, why do you seem angry about it? Why do you feel it’s necessary to say it, to comment?'”

Seriously. So you find her unattractive. That’s your taste. Plenty of people find her stunning, obviously. Why try to hurt her over your taste??

The way a lot of professionals have talked about her appearance is pure bullying, too. She recalled one instance where “a magazine said something really mean” about her looks, which left her in tears:

“It was like a kick in the rubber parts. I was just like, ‘Why is this a problem? Why is this deserving of your time and why do you seem to delight in saying it?’ And I called two of my friends who happen to be male because I knew that they might know about it. And I was just like, I was sobbing because it felt so purposeful.”

So awful. Despite it all, though, she says this is “the only time” she “really cried” about the comments on her appearance. Though she wonders if people would ever be brave enough to “say it” to her face in the new age of social media.

You can watch her talk about her experiences with bullying at the 41:36 timestamp (below):