Sarah Jessica Parker’s thoughts on aging shouldn’t be revolutionary (but they kind of are)

“I am so confused by the fact that the majority of men my age are simply never asked about aging,” she recently told Glamour in an interview. “We all wake up, have a million things going on, and just need to get on with our days – I don’t understand the emphasis that is placed on the pondering of aging.”

It’s a bit ironic that her statements about aging were made in an interview with Glamour UK to talk about her new role as an ambassador for ROC, a skincare brand that uses retinol to combat wrinkles, though that doesn’t make her statements any less true.

The 58-year-old actress admits that we all find our own line to walk when it comes to beauty treatments and aging. For her, it’s skincare over “tweakments” or surgery. 

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“I love that people choose to do what they want, and find a way that makes them feel better when they walk out the door,” SJP said. “They [cosmetic treatments and surgery] are just not something I choose to do. Also I’m an actor – I’m meant to be sharing emotion and communicating with my face, which for me needs to move. This is just how I feel for me, and absolutely doesn’t mean the same applies for someone else. We are all different and I love that about women.” 

A few years ago, SJP made headlines when she commented on the absurdity of calling her “brave” for having gray hair. Women are brave for many things, looking our age shouldn’t be one of them. Instead, we should be focused on everything we’ve gained in those years spent aging – families, careers, friendships, and a hefty dose of wisdom, I might add. 

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“We spend so much time talking about the accumulation of time spent adding up in wrinkles, and it’s the weirdest thing that we don’t say it adds up to being better at your job, better as a friend, better as a daughter, better as a partner, better as a caregiver, better as a sister,” Parker told Allure in 2022.

Parker isn’t just calling out the relentless pressure to look young – and it is relentless, whether you’re a Hollywood actress or a suburban mom of two whose skincare regime consists of Nivea and bar soap (just me?) – she’s also throwing some shade at the often unrealistic “self-care” trend.

“I’m not really someone who participates in the self-care conversation. I don’t really like it,” she told Glamour. “I don’t think that most real working women, working parents – people who are holding down two or three jobs, literally – are in a position to think about self-care.”

Parker – who is married to actor Matthew Broderick and mom to son James, 20, and twin daughters, Marion and Tabitha, 14 – credits motherhood with her patience and wisdom.  

“Motherhood taught me to be better at being patient and that the things I’m telling my children are important, are sometimes the very things I need to be thinking about for myself.”