Sarah Jessica Parker On Aging Gracefully, Her Beauty Routine, & Life As a Mom

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Carrie Bradshaw might be pretty vain but the actor who plays her is anything but. That doesn’t mean Sarah Jessica Parker doesn’t care about her skin or her outfits (have you seen her wardrobe?!), but she has better things to do than worry about Hollywood’s impossible beauty standards on women. That’s why she’s teamed up with RoC Skincare for its second #LookForwardProject in partnership with SeekHer, a non-profit with a mission to bridge the gender gap of mental health through advocacy, research, and support. Basically, she’s spreading the message of “optimism and a woman’s value” via education and hands-on support.

With the help of Parker, the #LookForwardProject Community Care Program is providing mental health resources through the US Middle School Optimism Program, as well as encouraging the next generation to be advocates for themselves via the #BeARoC TikTok campaign. The actor also helped create the new Sarah Jessica Parker x RoC Skincare curated gift set, with 100 percent of profits going to SeekHer.

The collection includes Multi Correxion Revive + Glow Serum, Eye Balm, and the new Glow Moisturizer with SPF, all in a colorful reusable pouch.

This week, StyleCaster chatted with Parker over Zoom to learn more about the project, her outlook on beauty, and being the mom of teenagers.

StyleCaster: Why did you partner with RoC again this year?

Sarah Jessica Parker: I’m continuing the conversation about not just optimism, but a woman’s value, visa vis her time spent living and the accumulation of years, and RoC and certainly I agree with the idea that [we’re] invaluable members of society. I don’t pick friends and look forward to conversations with colleagues and interesting people that I meet based on whether they have wrinkles, or look 27 or 72. In fact, I’m likely to be drawn towards somebody who I know has lived a life who has interesting things to share, to inspire to teach me. And I think that’s what RoC is most interested in is. Who are we? What are we saying? How are we living in the world? How are we decent to each other? How are we helpful and supportive? How do we sort through difficult times? How do we find optimism when that would seem impossible task or even impossible destination?

SC: Hollywood has different standards for women than it does men, especially women of a certain age. Do you see that changing?

SJP: I think people talk a lot about changing those ideas and those kinds of conversations. And never mind not asking women but asking men. And I just don’t put a lot of faith in some huge awakening about that. I just simply think it’s generations of emphasis on beauty, on a standard of beauty. And it takes a lot of time to undo those expectations and those habits. And so I waste no time wishing it would change but rather redirecting conversation. And I try not to be offended that that is a conversation people feel comfortable having with me. It’s not personal. So I try to talk about other things that I think are, if not easily as important, far more important.

SC: You have two teenage daughters. [Twins Marion Loretta and Tabitha Hodge are 14 and James Wilkie is 20.] How do you talk to them about navigating these beauty standards?

SJP: I think they know the difference between what makes them feel good and what other people think will make them feel good, or make them feel like somebody else, or behave like or dress like or speak like. I think they know intellectually, that that’s not actually the way they want to pursue their own life as individuals. But it’s really hard to resist groupthink. It makes you feel connected, it makes you feel like you have friends and makes you feel like you are part of something. And to be an individual, as you probably know, is scarier. It can be a lonely existence. So I try to keep reminding them that their value is in how they connect with other people, the kind of friends they are, the kind of student they hope to be, the kind of sibling they are, the kind of daughter they are, and that the other stuff is very hard to navigate. But they have my total support in being an individual. And it’s hard to do sometimes. But the payoff is mighty.

SC: Do you think about how you talk about yourself in front of them? To set a good example?

SJP: I mean, I don’t spend a lot of my day thinking about my face and my age. I just don’t. It’s only a conversation when I’m in these conversations. It’s not that I don’t think about it. It’s not that I don’t have a decent amount of vanity and ego. But I’m not interested enough to do much more about it than what I do. And I’m a realist. I’ve been on film almost my entire life. So what am I going to change radically, and all of a sudden going to become a new person who can’t move my face, or I can’t convey emotions or communicate things? It’s just not a choice I’m going to make. So I just kind of do what I do, and support any woman doing what they want to do, any person doing what they want to do.

“I don’t spend a lot of my day thinking about my face and my age.”

When my daughters give me a compliment, it means a huge amount to me, and if they don’t notice something, it doesn’t make a difference. I don’t talk a lot about my figure. Or weight. ‘That’s pretty, that’s not, she’s this, she’s not.’ Never, never. I want them to enjoy their food, enjoy their life. Be proud of being active people. One of them, you know, is interested in this athletic sport, one’s interested in that. You encourage it. You want them to be healthy people who can find joy. That’s my goal.

SC: What’s your current skincare routine like? Is it something you enjoy doing?

SJP: I’ve become more vigilant about things [than] I think about probably about 10 years ago. I finally started using sunscreen way too late. I’m really good about that [now]. I think a lot of that had to do just having kids. So it’s more like 15 years because I have a 20-year-old son. I think the minute you start putting sunscreen on babies and little kids, you’re like, I’m not immune to this. And I would say I know more. I didn’t care as much because you simply didn’t have to, just about your basic skincare at night and in the morning. I’ve never been somebody who spent a huge amount of time in the morning and in the evenings. I don’t take self-care days. I kind of get it done. I don’t want to spend more than 10 minutes washing my face and putting it all on.

What I think has been beneficial to me these last year plus months has been [working with RoC] because I’ve had consistent approach to skincare with products, I believe, based on my own empirical evidence, are working for me. So I’m really consistent about that. But I think that probably would have come simply if I’d found these products probably in the store as well. And if I use something that I like it, I tend to not switch because I’ve overwhelmed by choice, so I just like to stick with it. But it’s usually three things at most at night.

SC: Only three products?!

SJP: Cleanse is done with whatever soap is available and I swear to God, that’s the truth. Then, it might be a moisturizer, might be a serum, or might be a moisturizer, and then eye [cream]. Boom. And then I always have lip balm next to the bed. And I always have hand cream next to the bed. But those I don’t count that because I could be reading a book or looking at lines and doing that.

SC: Do your kids like skincare? Do they steal your products?

SJP: They’re amused by masks that you lay on your face. They use them and I play along. And they all love a jade roller. That’s because I’ve always had one since they were born in the freezer. So if they ever fell or anything I’d reach for a jade roller and rest it on a banged head, or you know, a chin. For Christmas a bunch of years ago, I bought them each their own jade roller and masks. And they put lotion on at night. They’re incredibly good about sunscreen.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.