--- title: Sex and the City: Sarah Jessica Parker Had Two Conditions description: When Sex and the City creator Darren Star first approached Sarah Jessica Parker about playing Carrie Bradshaw, she wasn't sure she wanted to. canonical: https://time.com/5268072/sex-and-the-city-sarah-jessica-parker-carrie-conditions/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-07T11:37:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:52:41.150Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Sarah Jessica Parker Had Two Conditions for Sex and the City og:description: Parker originally wasn't sure she wanted the role og:url: https://time.com/5268072/sex-and-the-city-sarah-jessica-parker-carrie-conditions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9da842eb6bb0a05e/69869f2e13c79f3d0e1936c7/t100_tv_sex-and-the-city1.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: t100_tv_sex-and-the-city1 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sarah Jessica Parker Had Two Conditions for Sex and the City twitter:description: Parker originally wasn't sure she wanted the role twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9da842eb6bb0a05e/69869f2e13c79f3d0e1936c7/t100_tv_sex-and-the-city1.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Two Conditions Sarah Jessica Parker Had for Playing Carrie on _Sex and the City_  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer May 7, 2018 11:37 AM UTC  Everett  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer May 7, 2018 11:37 AM UTC It’s nearly impossible to imagine anyone but [Sarah Jessica Parker](http://time.com/5220341/sarah-jessica-parker-on-cynthia-nixon/) playing [Carrie Bradshaw](http://time.com/4846970/candace-bushnell-on-carrie-big/) on [_Sex and the City_](http://time.com/5205954/cynthia-nixon-governor-reactions/). But when Darren Star, the show’s creator, first approached Parker about the now-iconic role, she wasn’t sure she wanted to do it. In an excerpt from the forthcoming book [_S_](https://www.amazon.com/Sex-City-Us-Single-Changed-ebook/dp/B078M9B8J9/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525713226&sr=8-1&keywords=sex+and+the+city+and+us)[_ex and the City and Us: How Four Single Women Changed the Way We Think, Live, and Love_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1501164821/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time037-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1501164821&linkId=87d742ea9aa096050456e220dd4622fd) obtained by [_Entertainment Weekly_](http://ew.com/books/2018/05/07/sex-and-the-city-and-us-excerpt/), author Jennifer Keishin Armstrong explains that two major changes had to be made to Carrie’s character before Parker would commit. “She didn’t want Carrie to throw around the word ‘f—’ just because the show was on cable,” the book reads. “She hoped Carrie would be thoughtful about language, given her profession as a writer. No problem, Star told her. She had \[another\] concern: the sex part of _Sex and the City_. ‘I just don’t see that it’s important,’ she said of doing nudity. ‘But we should have that conversation.'” Star, for his part, was apparently more than ready to abide by her wishes. “Star assured her neither he nor HBO would require her to do anything she didn’t want to,” Armstrong writes. “‘If you want to wear a bra and roll around in bed with somebody, and that’s what makes you comfortable, then that’s what you shall do,’ Parker recalls Star saying.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5268072/sex-and-the-city-sarah-jessica-parker-carrie-conditions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5268072/sex-and-the-city-sarah-jessica-parker-carrie-conditions/"},"headline":"The Two Conditions Sarah Jessica Parker Had for Playing Carrie on Sex and the City","datePublished":"2018-05-07T11:37:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:52:41.150Z","description":"Parker originally wasn't sure she wanted the role","url":"https://time.com/5268072/sex-and-the-city-sarah-jessica-parker-carrie-conditions/","keywords":["Television","Newsfeed","TV","sarah jessica parker","sex and the city"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9da842eb6bb0a05e/69869f2e13c79f3d0e1936c7/t100_tv_sex-and-the-city1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9da842eb6bb0a05e/69869f2e13c79f3d0e1936c7/t100_tv_sex-and-the-city1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"t100_tv_sex-and-the-city1","caption":"","creditText":"Everett","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/television/","name":"Television"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5268072/sex-and-the-city-sarah-jessica-parker-carrie-conditions/","name":"The Two Conditions Sarah Jessica Parker Had for Playing Carrie on Sex and the City"}}]}] ```