For over 27 years, the character Carrie Bradshaw has been a household name in homes across America. And even more influential on women in New York City. According to Entertainment Weekly, actress Sarah Jessica Parker, who has played Bradshaw in the HBO series, Sex and the City, and its spin-off, And Just Like That…, sat down with the Call Her Daddy podcast to discuss the staying power of the show’s four central women characters.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Parker discussed how these four characters — Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha — have had an amazing influence on the lives of independent women in today’s world. Parker, appearing on the latest episode of the podcast, explained the changes she saw around New York early on during filming.
“About a year into the show airing, I could see evidence of the way it was impacting New York City,” Parker said, according to Entertainment Weekly. “You’d see groups of women all of a sudden at tables leaning into each other, not leaning in… which, I can’t stand that phrase. But, I mean, physically, like, clustered.” In addition to women’s seating arrangements in public, Parker continued to explain how she saw women in NYC walking down the street in fours, side by side, like her character and three friends would.
According to EW, Parker also spoke about how women would come up to her and tell her that it was her character that gave them confidence to be themselves and to talk about topics in public, such as sex, dating, and a lot more.
“The anecdotal stuff of all the women that just came up to me and said all these years, you know, ‘I was allowed to be me,'” Parker reflected, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Sex and the City premiered in 1998 and ran for six seasons. After two successful films, the show returned for its revival, And Just Like That… in 2021. It’s currently in its third season.
You can watch the podcast episode in its entirety below.