Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker recently disclosed that a famous male co-star sexually harassed her while filming a project together. While Parker did not name her well-known co-star or the project they were working on, she called the actor an "instigator" on set who encouraged other cast and crew members to treat her poorly during filming. The environment became so toxic, Parker reported the behavior to her agent.
Parker said her co-star "was behaving, not only inappropriately, but perhaps even I would say, they weren’t living up to contractual obligations as well." Though the situation was dire, Parker recalls taking some time to tell her agent about what was happening to her. "I think no matter how evolved or how modern I thought I was, I didn't feel entirely in a position — no matter what my role was on set — I didn't feel as powerful as the man who was behaving inappropriately," she explained. "Which strikes me as just stunning to say out loud, because there were plenty of occasions where it was happening and I was in a different position and I was as powerful."
Eventually, though, Parker realized she needed to speak up for herself and called her agent. "I had every right to say, 'This is inappropriate.' I could have felt safe in going to a superior. And, in fact, I will say, when there was a situation with somebody and I did go to my agent because I felt I was no longer able to convey how uncomfortable this was making me, how inappropriate it was," Parker continued. "Within hours everything had changed. He said to them, 'If this continues, I have sent her a ticket, a one-way ticket out of this city,' where I was shooting, 'and she will not be returning.'"
As a result of her actions, she "didn't have to listen to jokes about me or my figure or what people thought they could talk me into doing...All these men. That stopped." Despite this particular situation improving, Parker said she had no expectations this co-star would actually make any meaningful behavioral changes after filming ended. "The nature of the person who I felt was really the instigator, this was a grown man, a very big movie star and, you know, he was baked, meaning his personality, it was cooked," she explained. "He was a formed person and that wasn’t going to change. But I felt certainly better and safer, like I could finish what I had agreed to do."
It wasn't until recently that Parker began to fully take stock of other similar instances she experienced throughout her successful film and television career. "I would say, until about six or eight months ago that I started recognizing countless experiences of men behaving poorly, inappropriately, and all the ways that I had made it possible to keep coming to work or to remain on set, or to simply just push it down, push it away, find a little space for it and move on," she said.
"To be honest, I don't know why I either wasn't courageous or more destroyed by some of the things that I was privy to, that I was on the receiving end of," Parker concluded.
Photo: Getty