Sarah Jessica Parker opens up about the "double standards" she's faced growing old in the public eye

"Please applaud someone else's courage."

Sarah Jessica Parker – the actress best known for her iconic representation of Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and The City – has candidly opened up about the challenges she’s faced growing old in the public eye.

Speaking to Allure magazine, the actress discussed the societal expectations put on women and reflected on the “double standards” women face compared to men.

There’s been loads of press coverage about the stars decision to embrace her natural beauty and let her hair go grey naturally. Many publications have called this “brave” – but now, SJP has spoken out about how damaging this can be to a woman’s self-confidence.

Last year, an image of the actress eating lunch with a friend in New York went viral as people heaped praise on her for her grey hair and no make up.

But SJP is now asking people to “applaud someone else’s courage on something.”

She said: “It became months and months of conversation about how brave I am for having grey hair. I was like, please please applaud someone else’s courage on something.”

She went on to highlight that men never face the same public pressure.

“We never talk about that with the other sex,” she went on. “We don’t say to them: ‘Here’s a cream to pretend this didn’t happen.'”

Case in point – her friend, Andy Cohen, didn’t face the same intense media scrutiny, despite appearing in the photos with a head full of grey hair.

“Andy has a full head of beautiful grey hair,” she explained. “But no one mentioned him, sitting right next to me. Not a soul.”

The 57-year-old actress went on: “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.”

Her SATC co-star Kristin Davis has also spoken out about the challenges that come with ageing in the public eye. Speaking to New Beauty, she reflected on how “extremely stressful” it can feel “to be ageing and to be compared to your much, much, much younger self.”

Kristin continued: “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 three-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 analysed.”

Hats off to both celebrities for speaking so candidly about how standards need to change – we couldn’t agree more.

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