In an NZ exclusive, the US actor talks to Viva about life since And Just Like That ended.<\/p>\n
\n They say never meet your heroes because they\u2019ll disappoint you. But in this case, I\u2019m the disappointment \u2013 turning up to a Zoom interview with wet hair and half my makeup on
\n because I thought it was audio only.\n <\/p>\n
But as the call connects, there is Sarah Jessica Parker, filling my laptop screen with her trademark blonde curls and a face that\u2019s been part of my viewing life for nearly 30 years.<\/p>\n
Thank goodness I\u2019d changed out of my dressing gown. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s 7.30am for me and 3.30pm for Parker, talking to Viva from a study in her New York home. The walls are lined with shelves of colourful-spined books and artworks, and the lighting is excellent.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve got my camera angle all wrong and can\u2019t believe I\u2019ve turned up to interview SARAH. JESSICA. PARKER. looking like I\u2019ve just been swimming. <\/p>\n
She is gracious, telling me not to worry, she hasn\u2019t done her hair either (it looks amazing) and has no makeup on (she\u2019s glowing).<\/p>\n
Sarah Jessica Parker attends the Fendi Couture Fall\/Winter 2026-2027 Show at Rome’s Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in July. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Parker is dialling in to discuss her latest wine collaboration with Invivo, her fifth with the New Zealand winery since their partnership began in 2018. She\u2019s the brand\u2019s second celebrity partner, with Graham Norton enjoying international success with his range of six wines, three gins and one vodka.<\/p>\n
Despite the cachet and global profile Parker\u2019s partnership brings to Invivo, she says her wines are not \u201ca celebrity brand\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a serious wine business. We take the work really seriously. We care a lot about producing a really quality bottle of wine.\u201d <\/p>\n
The character she\u2019s best known for, Carrie Bradshaw, launched hundreds of trends, but Parker\u2019s \u201cnot well-versed\u201d in them. <\/p>\n
So the viral \u201cmoment\u201d of adding slices of jalapeno to a glass of sauvignon blanc passed her by.<\/p>\n
But in last year\u2019s Northern Hemisphere summer, it was everywhere. Texas TikTok creator Grace Ramadan told the NY Times it was her \u201cdrink of the summer because it was so easy\u201d, and tens of millions of posts and hashtags like \u201cspicysauvyb\u201d agreed. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur distributor saw something happening and came to [me and Invivo co-founders Tim Lightbourne and Rob Cameron] and talked about the idea,\u201d Parker says. <\/p>\n
\u201cI just thought it was a great idea. I was like, yeah, that actually makes really good sense.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sarah Jessica Parker, centre, with Invivo co-founders Rob Cameron and Tim Lightbourne.<\/p>\n
According to wine writers, the combination works because jalapenos and wine grapes contain a chemical called pyrazine, which has zesty and herbaceous notes. Pyrazines have been dialled back in NZ savs in recent years, so adding jalapeno adds a zingy kick.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs always, when you\u2019re producing wine, the great challenge is how do we get there in a way that\u2019s real,\u201d Parker says. \u201cWe\u2019re not wanting any artificial flavours. We\u2019re not wanting to do a less than fantastic sauvignon that will marry well with this idea.\u201d <\/p>\n
She worked with Cameron, Invivo\u2019s winemaker, and Lightbourne, the brand\u2019s director, to come up with a blend they were happy with. <\/p>\n
Launched in the US this year, the Invivo X Sarah Jessica Parker Spicy Jalapeno Sauvignon Blanc is now on sale in New Zealand. And whatever your initial wine-purist reaction may be, reviews have been largely positive. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a massive success, which we\u2019re thrilled about,\u201d Parker says. \u201c[We\u2019re] relieved because, just because we like something doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s going to translate … wine is a very personal experience, we cannot legislate or dictate how people are going to respond to it. So it\u2019s been just lovely.\u201d <\/p>\n
Lightbourne says the wine is \u201capproachable rather than over the top\u201d, with a \u201csubtle spicy kick\u201d. <\/p>\n
Early retail signs are good, he says, with global retailers adding it to their catalogues. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat just doesn\u2019t normally happen this fast, as wine is typically a slow-moving world.\u201d <\/p>\n
Parker has worked with Invivo since 2018 but her love of wine stretches back much further. Wine didn\u2019t play an important role in her household growing up \u2013 her mother didn\u2019t drink at all \u2013 but she remembers a bottle of Ernest & Julio Gallo being served at her parents\u2019 potluck dinner parties. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was only when I started to travel as a young adult that I started to really understand wine \u2013 not in the way winemakers understood it, but that there was something really wonderful about travelling and being in local spots and having local wine in Europe and, just really enjoying the experience.\u201d <\/p>\n
Travel is something she continues to enjoy but, even with her Invivo connections, she is yet to visit New Zealand. <\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t been yet. It\u2019s crazy… it\u2019s not like there haven\u2019t been wonderful offers from Tim and Rob; we\u2019ve had some wonderful opportunities, but because of work and children, the timing was never right.\u201d <\/p>\n
She promises she\u2019ll get here soon \u2013 she wants to see our nature, our hills, our cities, our seas \u2013 but life is still incredibly busy. Since filming wrapped on Sex and the City spinoff series And Just Like That in October 2024, Parker was a judge for the 2025 Booker prize, reading 153 books in a year. <\/p>\n
She\u2019s now filming Hocus Pocus 3, and in pre-production for a sequel to her 2005 movie The Family Stone. <\/p>\n
Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw during filming of And Just Like That.<\/p>\n
But since wrapping AJLT after three seasons, she\u2019s enjoying having more time for simple things: seeing friends, going to the supermarket, doing laundry, being a parent. <\/p>\n
She\u2019s 61 and says she can picture a time when she retires from acting but thinks she\u2019ll always want to do things that feel \u201cnew or challenging or frustrating or exciting\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cI love collaborating. I love working with people that are smarter than me, [who] I can learn from. And so, retirement really, to me, just sounds like more liberty, which I\u2019m excited about.\u201d <\/p>\n
As well as her work with Invivo, she is the founder of SJP Lit, a literary imprint of publisher Zando, and works with brands including Tanqueray gin, Astrea London luxury goods and Arezzo footwear. <\/p>\n
Sarah Jessica Parker has launched her new collaboration with Invivo wines – Invivo X Sarah Jessica Parker Spicy Jalapeno Sauvignon Blanc.<\/p>\n
Lightbourne says she\u2019s heavily involved in the Invivo business and has been from the start. <\/p>\n
She created the signature \u201cX\u201d label by dipping her little finger into a small pot of paint and painting it on the first concept bottles. She is there for the blending process, tasting the latest harvests with the team, and has final sign-off on new additions to the X, SJP range.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the Spicy Jalapeno Sauvignon Blanc, we went back and forth for a while, tasting and adjusting, until the heat felt exactly right, not too much, not too little,\u201d Lightbourne says. <\/p>\n
Parker also travels with Lightbourne and Cameron to buyer meetings around the world. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a completely different relationship to what we see out there with a celebrity collaboration, where a talent shows up once a year for a trade show or sign bottles,\u201d Lightbourne says. \u201cSJP is genuinely all in.\u201d <\/p>\n
Invivo X Sarah Jessica Parker Spicy Jalapeno Sauvignon Blanc, which is available in Auckland at Tacoteca. Photo \/ Rhiannon Baldock<\/p>\n
Parker says she\u2019s looking forward to a time when she can travel more frequently, but admits her husband Matthew Broderick is unlikely to want to retire from acting. What projects she takes on next will depend on \u201cwhat opportunities are presented to me and how compelling they are\u201d. <\/p>\n
She describes herself and Broderick as very present parents. Their son James, 23, just graduated from college and their twin daughters Tabitha and Marion recently turned 17. Mostly keeping her family off her social media accounts, Parker posted a rare tribute to them on their birthday, praising them for being wise, good, happy, funny, \u201cand beautifully finding your way\u201d. <\/p>\n
Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, pictured in 2022 with their children, Tabitha Hodge Broderick, James Wilkie Broderick and Marion Loretta Elwell Broderick. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
She says, like any parent, she worries about them becoming independent adults in a world that is \u201cso much less knowable than it used to be\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe world is so different than when I was coming into this moment of my life. Opportunities aren\u2019t really the same. My business isn\u2019t really the same. Most businesses aren\u2019t the same. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think I worry about what is out there for them, but I think of that in the larger way too. I think not just about my children, but about everybody\u2019s children and what will our world look like? Will there still be interest in classics degrees and liberal arts degrees and the things that I was really most excited about for my children? Will the written word still have value and what role is artificial intelligence going to play in the opportunities that exist for them, and finding homes and building lives.\u201d <\/p>\n
She says she\u2019s not a doom scroller but is \u201cvery aware of the world\u201d and its \u201cpropulsive nature\u201d. To counter those feelings, she tries to find things to feel hopeful about, although admits she\u2019s never been one for \u201cself-care\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cI fret, I worry, I have anxiety like everybody else, and hope that I can manage it and see something optimistic and hopeful, and hang my hat on that.\u201d <\/p>\n
After such a long and successful career \u2013 and one still growing and evolving \u2013 what is she most proud of?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a dream of mine to be a working actor and everything else that has happened is something that I wouldn\u2019t have known to think of or want. So I think the proudest is that I\u2019ve been able to work and have choices … and been able to support my family and pay my bills and have a very rich life, in large part because of the work opportunities that I\u2019ve had. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a lot of work and taking things seriously and being a professional, but also just really loving what I do.\u201d <\/p>\n
She says ultimately, however, her proudest achievement is being a parent. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m excellent at it or I\u2019m achieving what I want to every day as a parent. Parenting is the most challenging because it\u2019s humans and their feelings and their lives and their choices. <\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day is a new experience and I hope I\u2019m doing a decent job, but it\u2019s the thing that I am most affected by \u2013 the thing that is the most profound experience in my life.\u201d <\/p>\n
More about wine & drinks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an NZ exclusive, the US actor talks to Viva about life since And Just Like That ended.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[1443,3376,29160,430,8532,156,1017,78,306452,13832,5511,424,13840,111,139,69,17472,6967,29159,7811,301,1361,61,46599,159,14638,197,1959],"class_list":["post-623017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-about","tag-actor","tag-blanc","tag-celebrities","tag-ended","tag-entertainment","tag-exclusive","tag-in","tag-jalapeno","tag-jessica","tag-just","tag-life","tag-like","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-parker","tag-sarah","tag-sauvignon","tag-since","tag-talks","tag-that","tag-to","tag-try","tag-viva","tag-wants","tag-you","tag-your"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}