This Is How Sarah Jessica Parker Is Making Sure That Her Teen Daughters Don’t See Food As Their “Enemy”
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This article discusses body image and relationships with food.
Sarah Jessica Parker just got seriously real about ensuring that her teenage daughters have a healthy relationship with food as they grow up.
The star shares 14-year-old twins Tabitha and Marion with her husband, Matthew Broderick, and admitted that her own childhood has influenced the way that she raises her girls.
Speaking on this week’s episode of Ruthie’s Table 4 podcast, Sarah Jessica explained that she and her seven siblings were not allowed sugar, sweet treats, or even white bread in their family home growing up — and that this restrictive approach was completely counterproductive.
Discussing her daughters, Sarah Jessica said: “I didn’t want them to have a relationship with food that was antagonistic, or they felt like it was their enemy and that they were going to have to, like, stake out a position with food.”
“When I was growing up, we weren’t allowed sugar in the house,” she continued. “And we weren’t allowed cookies, and we weren’t allowed chocolate, and, of course, all we did the minute we moved out was buy Entenmann’s cakes and cookies, and I didn’t want that [for her daughters.]”
“So in our house, we have cookies, we have cake, we have everything, and I think as a result, you kind of have a healthier relationship,” Sarah Jessica added. “And my daughters will have the figures they have, and hopefully they’ll be healthy. They’re athletes, and they enjoy food, and they have different palates.”
“You can’t make someone like something they don’t like or want, and I hope they can maintain their affection for the experience and their delight in taste and find their own ways to have that be healthy for them,” the star concluded.
Sarah Jessica and Matthew are also mom and dad to 21-year-old son James, who she said is “absolutely mad for food,” and she confessed that she also started to indulge as soon as she moved out of her family home.
“I never was very disciplined about it,” she explained. “I’m not really good at denying myself something.”
Elsewhere in the podcast, Sarah Jessica admitted that she sometimes accepts job offers just because the travel involved will allow her to explore new cuisines, and she also revealed that she and Cynthia Nixon would actually eat the prop food when filming scenes for both Sex and the City and its sequel series And Just Like That.
“Cynthia and I, in those coffee shop scenes, we always eat. We always eat, and we always need to re-prop our plate, and then when we finally wrap they’ll always say to Cynthia and me: ‘Do you guys want to take it to go again today?’ and we’re like: ‘Yes, we do,’” Sarah Jessica explained.
The star went on to say that the prop team even started to send her and Cynthia menus in advance so that they could order what they wanted to eat during filming — and that they coordinated with each other to share different meals.
And Sarah Jessica’s love of food is also prominent in her home life, with she and Matthew cooking meals “every single day” for their family.
“We probably eat dinner as a family every night,” she explained. “If I’m shooting or he’s doing a play obviously that shifts around. We always have dinner Sunday night, but one of us — if we’re home — cooks every single day, and we love to cook.”
If you’re wondering, the day before Sarah Jessica’s podcast appearance, she made a stew at home for the family, and Matthew made a white bean soup.
The Parker-Brodericks are currently based in London for the West End run of Sarah Jessica and Matthew’s revival of Neil Simon's play Plaza Suite.
The National Eating Disorders Association helpline is 1-800-931-2237; for 24/7 crisis support, text “NEDA” to 741741.
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