‘Sex and the City’ cast was scared to show nipples, Kristin Davis says

There’s not a lot that the stars of Sex and the City didn’t show over the years — think lingerie, bikinis, Carrie Bradshaw’s naked dress — but they were worried about showing their nipples, actress Kristin Davis, who played the romantic, Charlotte York (later Charlotte York-Goldenblatt), has revealed.

On a recent episode of her podcast, Are You a Charlotte?, Davis and her guest, clinical psychologist Dr. Hillary Goldsher, discussed the perception of women and how that’s changed since the show, which originally aired on HBO from 1998 to 2004, before being adapted into movies and the current Max series And Just Like That.

“Look at how people present themselves now. It’s totally normal to have almost everyone on a red carpet in a sheer dress where, potentially, their nipples are showing,” Davis said. “Like, this never would have happened back in the olden days. We were scared about showing our nipples on the show. We were like, ‘Oh my god. They want us to show our nipples.’ We were so worried about it. Right? Like, would we be shunned? Would we be, you know, cast out … by the film world or whatever, which is kind of insane to think about.”

Davis recalled having had a tough time deciding what to wear to an Emmy Awards ceremony early on, because, of course, she wanted to support the show, but how would people react to seeing Kristin and not Charlotte on the red carpet? She spoke to costars Sarah Jessica Parker (Bradshaw), Cynthia Nixon (Miranda Hobbes), and Kim Cattrall (Samantha Jones) about how to present herself. As she remembered, it was “a lot of pressure.”

The actress, who was herself nominated by the Television Academy for best supporting actress in a comedy in 2004, first went to designers on her own, she said, but was overwhelmed by the many different opinions. She ended up settling on a stylist.

“So I had this one dress that was like a cutout, like, very sexy skin-baring dress, very not me,” Davis said. “Like, I was not really that comfortable with it, but the designer really wanted me to wear it. My manager was like, you’ve gotta wear that because people don’t think you’re sexy because you play the prude on the show. And I was like, ‘Really? Are you sure? Because I am still on Sex and the City.'”

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Meanwhile, Davis said one publicist advised her to “wear that dress with all the skin,” while yet another suggested she wear a “princess dress,” because “class.” She ended up selecting something she described as “middle ground,” and she had many more dresses to choose as awards for the surprisingly heartfelt comedy about friendship and love of all kinds racked up accolades.

Davis, Parker, and Nixon are expected to return to their signature roles sometime this year on And Just Like That. Listen to Davis’ full discussion in the podcast above.