Kristin Davis shares why the cast of Sex and the City were “scared” to show their nipples on the hit series.
The actress, who plays Charlotte York, recently opened up on her podcast, Are You a Charlotte?, about how the perception of women has changed since the show aired from 1998 to 2004. Following the original series, Davis also reprised her role in two 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 during her conversation with clinical psychologist Dr. Hillary Goldsher. “Like, this never would have happened back in the olden days.”
She continued, “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 also recalled facing “a lot of pressure” regarding how to present herself to the public early in her career, even leaning on her Sex and the City costars Sarah Jessica Parker (Bradshaw), Cynthia Nixon (Miranda Hobbes) and Kim Cattrall (Samantha Jones) for advice.
The actress specifically remembered being overwhelmed ahead of the 2004 Emmy Awards, where she was nominated for best supporting actress in a comedy series. Davis said she first went to designers herself in search of a look but ended up working with a stylist because “everyone on my team had different opinions.”
“So I had this one dress that was like a cutout, like, very sexy skin-baring dress, very not me,” Davis explained. “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.’”
She added that her manager suggested she “wear that dress with all the skin,” while her publicist told her, “Oh no, darling. You need to wear this princess dress because, you know, class.”
Davis said she was trying to navigate “this whole thing of like, how do I present myself? What am I trying to do? How am I within this conversation? And it was super stressful. …. So I went with a middle ground [outfit].”
The actress added that it’s “so interesting” to see how perception has changed over the years.