Sarah Jessica Parker Criticizes the “Double Standard” of Growing Old in Hollywood
In a world of fillers, fox threads, and mini face-lifts, it’s no wonder that so many of us feel the pressure to avoid—*gasp*—growing old. In fact, almost a million Botox injections are carried out every year in the UK (per this 2021 study), and last year, women had 93 percent of all cosmetic procedures performed in the UK, according to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. It’s for that reason that celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker are often heaped with praise or criticized for embracing the au naturel look, something she says is a massive “double standard.”
Speaking to Allure, And Just Like That…’s SJP opened up about how she’s tired of people branding her decision to let her hair go gray as “brave.”
“It became months and months of conversation about how brave I am for having gray hair,” she said, recalling when a photo of her dining out in Manhattan with no makeup on and her hair pulled back went viral last year. “I was like, please, please applaud someone else’s courage on something!”
“We never talk about that with the other sex,” she added, pointing out how male celebrities (or men in general) are less likely to be the subjects of such conversations. “We don’t say to them: ‘Here’s a cream to pretend this didn’t happen.’” Recalling the bare-faced, gray-haired photo from last year, SJP questioned why her friend Andy Cohen, who was also in the photo, didn’t receive the same comments she did. “Andy has a full head of beautiful gray hair,” she said. “But no one mentioned him, sitting right next to me. Not a soul.”
The 57-year-old continued, “I’m not angry, it’s just an observation.…Some of it hurts for a minute, it smarts. And some of it confounds me because of the double standard that is so plainly illustrated.”
Sadly, SJP isn’t alone. In fact, earlier this year, her AJLT costar Kristin Davis echoed much the same thought as she told New Beauty, “It can be extremely stressful to be aging and to be compared to your much, much, much younger self.”
Kristin went on, “If I was from a regular life, I would feel fine, I would feel great! I’m healthy, I’m strong, I’ve got this little 3-year-old son and I carry him around and it’s all good—but no, I’m on television, where every bit of my physical being is analyzed.”
We’re so here for these two incredibly beautiful icons speaking out on this!
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