Only One of Sarah Jessica Parker’s Kids Has Watched Her in SATC: ‘Felt Weird’
She may be known as Carrie Bradshaw to the rest of the world, but to Sarah Jessica Parker‘s kids, she’s just mom. SJP shares three children—son James Wilkie and twin daughters Marion Loretta and Tabitha Hodge—with her husband, Matthew Broderick.
Parker and Broderick met in November 1991 while Broderick was directing a play for the Naked Angels Theater Company, which was founded by his brothers. Parker, who had just ended her relationship with Robert Downey Jr., was introduced to Broderick through one of his brothers. “Matthew and I come from a different time and place. When we were young people, all we ever wanted was to be good working actors. We didn’t think of fame or money because, honestly, money was never part of the dream,” she told Harper’s Bazaar in 2013. “It was to work in theater, to be around those people whose work I was in total awe of.”
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In a past interview with YES Network, Broderick recalled the first time he met Parker. “I do remember first meeting her,” he said. “I still remember very clearly seeing her walk down the street toward the movie theater…it’s very unique, because I wouldn’t remember most people the first time I saw them come down the street. [But] I remember it as clear as day.”
Though the two met in November 1991, it wasn’t until February 1992 that Broderick asked Parker on a date. “My memory is that literally months passed when I didn’t ask her for a date,” Broderick told The New York Times in 1996. “Your memory is correct,” Parker added. “Then he left a very charming, very self-effacing message on the machine. You know, ‘Hi, it’s Matthew Broderick.’ You had to use your last name.”
The couple dated for five years before they married in a wedding at the Angel Orensanz Synagogue in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. on May 19, 1997. They welcomed their first child, son named James Wilkie, in October 2002. Their second and third kids, twin daughters Marion Loretta and Tabitha Hodge, were born in June 2009. So are Sarah Jessica Parker’s kids with Matthew Broderick? Read on for what SJP’s son and daughters look like now and the special meanings behind their unique names.
James Wilkie Broderick
Birthday: October 28, 2002
Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick’s eldest child and only son is James Wilkie Broderick. James Wilkie was born on October 28, 2002 and is named after his dad’s late father, actor James Broderick, who died in 1982. James Wilkie was born at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan and weighed 6 lbs. 8 oz at the time of his birth, according to People. SJP’s publicist told the magazine at the time that “mother and baby are doing very well. Everyone is healthy.” Broderick’s rep also told the Associated Press at the time that “everybody is totally over the moon and ready to go home.” People also reported at the time that Parker and Broderick posed for fans and about 100 photographers outside of the hospital after James’ birth. “Thanks for caring,” Parker said at the time. “It must be a slow news week.” SJP was pregnant with James Wilkie during season five of Sex and the City, which was a shorter season and saw her hide her pregnancy with various outfits.
In May 2021, Parker posted an Instagram photo of James Wilkie days before his high school graduation. “Into the sunset of his High School career. Field day. The period at the end of a long sentence. And all the sunrises and sunsets in his future,” she captioned the post. “It’s a milestone. Not fully understood til it’s on your doorstep. And til they cross the threshold into their next mostly mysterious chapter. Just like all the other chapters that are part of the epic novel that is the story of child and parent. We, all of us Parker-Brodericks are proud, weepy and so looking forward to celebrating your coming graduation. Enjoy this beautiful day, you have earned it.”
In October of that year, Parker celebrated James Wilkie’s 19th birthday with an Instagram post. “He is 19. Today. He doesn’t wake with us. He is in his life. Away. In his studies. Among new friends. Sending home details. There is so much to tell,” she wrote of the college student. “New adults making lasting impressions. Opening his still young eyes. New thoughts. New books. New and different mornings.” “On this one it’s bittersweet,” she wrote. “Not to be with him. To wish him the most happiest of birthdays. Our Scorpio. Our Oct. baby. Our JW. Happy Birthday. Balloons. Candles. Hoping every birthday wish to come true. Xxx, Mama.” A month later, James Wilkie made a rare red carpet appearance with his parents at the New York City premiere of And Just Like That.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight in June 2023, James revealed that he tried to watch And Just Like That but “felt weird” because he hadn’t seen the original. “I tried to watch the new one and I liked it but then I felt weird, ’cause I haven’t watched the original,” James said. “It felt a little weird to be watching the newer one having not watched it, even if it’s accessible.” He continued, “I guess it’s kind of obvious why maybe I hadn’t watched the original show as a kid.”
He also told Entertainment Tonight that it’s not “awkward” for him to see his mother in sex scenes. “But now I don’t really have an excuse,” James said. “People ask like, ‘Oh, is that awkward for you? There’s like a lot of [risqué] scenes.’ That’s not that big of a deal for me. I think I just was a little too young before.” He continued, “Yeah, I’m really running out of excuses.”
Marion Loretta Elwell Broderick
Birthday: June 22, 2009
Marion Loretta Elwell Broderick is one of Sarah Jessica Parker’s two daughters with Matthew Broderick. Marion—and her fraternal twin sister, Tabitha Hodge Broderick—was born on June 22, 2009 via a surrogate in Ohio. “[We are] delighted to announce the healthy arrival of [our] two daughters,” Parker and Broderick said in statement to People at the time. “The babies are doing beautifully and the entire family is over the moon.” Marion, who was born at 3:58 p.m., weighed 5 lbs and 11 oz at the time of her birth, according to the magazine. In an interview with TODAY in 2008, Parker revealed why she and Broderick decided to use a surrogate for their daughters. “Well, you know, we’ve been trying to expand our family for a number of years and we actually have explored a variety of ways of doing so,” she said. “This was one of the things we discussed with seriousness that had real possibilities for us.”
During the interview, Parker confessed that she was “disappointed” that she couldn’t carry her daughters. “Yeah, I mean, I couldn’t pretend otherwise,” she said. “It would be a complicated. It would be odd to have made this choice if I was able to, you know, have successful pregnancies since my son’s birth.” Parker also revealed her reaction when she heard that she and Broderick were expecting twins. “I mean, giggles!” she said. “We didn’t expect it. I think after a certain amount of time, you tend to hold your hopes at bay a bit so as not to be disappointed. One really would have been thrilling and we would’ve felt incredibly lucky. And two was a comedy.”
Parker also told Today about how she and Broderick told James Wilkie, who was six years old at the time, that she was about to become an older brother. “I’ve been pretty candid with him,” she said. “I kind of chartered my own course with him because we wanted to keep this quiet and so I wanted to be very careful about telling him so he wasn’t burdened with a secret. On the other hand, I wanted him to have time to adjust to the idea of sharing his mama and his papa.” She continued, “I feel very excited about the fact that my son is of an age now where he really will be helpful. He’s really excited. He’s very much ready to be an older brother. I think it gives him a great sense of pride. It’s wonderful and I just hope for their safe arrival.”
Tabitha Hodge Broderick
Birthday: June 22, 2009
Tabitha Hodge Broderick is one of Sarah Jessica Parker’s two daughters with Matthew Broderick. Along with her fraternal twin, Marion Loretta Elwell Broderick, Tabitha was born June 22, 2009 via a surrogate in Ohio. Tabitha weighed 6 lbs at the time of her birth, according to People. “Both Hodge and Elwell are family names on Parker’s side,” Parker and Broderick explained in a statement at the time of their daughters’ names. In a past interview with Vogue, Parker looked back at her decision to use a surrogate. We tried and tried and tried and tried to get pregnant,” she said. “It just was not to be, I would give birth…if I could.” Parker, who was raised with seven brothers and sisters, wanted to have more kids so that James Wilkie wasn’t an only child. “I didn’t want him to have to shoulder the burden of us later in life, by himself,” she said.
She continued, “We couldn’t talk about the fact that we were having children to anybody for sooo long! All the stuff that matters is secretive and worrisome. You can’t talk about how you feel about the woman who’s carrying your children; you can only talk to your husband.” Parker also recalled a special moment with James Wilkie right before his sisters were born. “I came back into the room and saw him combing his hair down and standing in front of the mirror,” she said. “He doesn’t know I saw him, but I heard him say, ‘I have to be handsome when I meet my sisters.’”
In an Instagram post in 2019, Parker celebrated her twins’ 10th birthday. “Today you are 10,” she wrote. “And I could spend hours remembering all the moments between your arrival and today. Happy birthday you decaders! I love you.” She also shared another slideshow with photos of her daughters throughout the years. “June 22nd, 2019, 10 years of a brand new love,” she wrote. “Sisters. You turned our lives inside out and upside down, filled and continue to fill all the remaining space with endless surprises, romance, sentimentality, art and a bounty of a sort of love we didn’t even know we were missing.” She continued, “We wouldn’t want to imagine our world without you. Happy birthday dearest and darling daughters. We love you so.”
In an interview with Extra in June 2023, Parker confirmed that neither of her twins had seen Sex and the City at the time. “No, [Marion and Tabitha] have not. They’ll be 14 [on June 22, 2023], as you know, at the end of this month,” Parker said. “Thus far — maybe that’s unique given the complication of me being their parent — thus far, it’s not been something that’s crossed their viewing radar, and perhaps it never will. I understand that.”
She continued, “They are aware of the show to the degree that they are interested. It’s not a paramount topic in their lives.”
Sex and the City is available to stream on MAX. Here’s how to watch it for free.
Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell by Amy Sohn
‘Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell’ by Amy Sohn
For more about And Just Like That and Sex and the City, read HBO’s official companion book, Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell. The book, written by dating columnist and screenwriter Amy Sohn, is filled with behind-the-scenes secrets from Sex and the City‘s six seasons and details on the real-life stories that inspired the show’s shocking episodes. The book also includes 750 full-color photographs from filming the series, as well as an introduction written by none other than Sarah Jessica Parker. With fun facts on how many dates Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda really went on to never-been-told secrets about Carrie’s most outrageous (and fabulous) outfits, Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell is a must-read for any SATC superfan.
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