Sarah Jessica Parker felt she was a mother long before she gave birth to her first child in 2002.
The And Just Like That star told The New Yorker that her relationship with her former boyfriend Robert Downey Jr. — who she dated from 1984 to 1991 — felt more parental than romantic thanks to his well-documented substance abuse problems during that period.
After a string of bizarre arrests and stints in rehab, Robert got sober in in the early 2000s.
Sarah Jessica — who apparently took “one sip” of a cocktail while speaking to the New Yorker’s Rachel Syme and “declared it too strong” — told the magazine that she never felt it “necessary” to have a rebellious phase in her life.
This attitude seems to have clashed with the lifestyle that her ex embraced while they were dating in their early 20s, and Sarah Jessica admitted that she often felt undervalued by her ex and his inner circle, who “made her feel like a parent at the age of twenty-two”.
“People around him would be dismissive of me, but I had given him stability and tried to create a steady heartbeat that allowed him to show up on time,” she said. “That made me angry and embarrassed me.”
While the two dated, Robert did score a few high-profile gigs including 1985’s Weird Science, 1987’s The Pickup Artist, a brief stint on Saturday Night Live (between 1985 and 1986) and his breakout role in 1987’s Less Than Zero.
For his part, Robert told the magazine through a representative that he has “great respect” for Sarah Jessica.
This could be due to an encounter the former couple had later in life in which Downey contacted Parker seeking “closure”.
“Seeing her, I was like, ‘She’s so great and so cool and so funny and so in-command,’” he told Howard Stern in 2015. “I got to meet her kids and I saw the way she and [her husband, Matthew Broderick] live and I respect both of them so much.”
When the host asked Robert if he was in love with Sarah Jessica when they dated, he responded with: “Absolutely.”
But Robert, who married film producer Susan Levin in 2005, also admitted that time had clouded the way he remembered Sarah Jessica.
“You always have a perception of somebody that you spent a big chunk of your life with and I think it’s typical to the human thing that the further you get away from that in your new relationship, you taint your perception of the person,” Robert explained.
“It happens in this haphazard kind of way, and it’s a little bit stilted, then there’s this familiarity that overtakes it,” he added of reconnecting with Parker.
“And you realise you’re just in the presence of this fully mature mother, and woman, and artist, and human being, and there’s enough good will leftover. You didn’t burn that bridge.”
Help and support:
- Contact FRANK on 0300 123 6600 or visit the website for alternative contact methods.
- If you need help with a drinking problem, call the Alcoholics Anonymous national helpline for free on 0800 9177 650 or email help@aamail.org.
- For advice on how to reduce drinking, visit Drinkaware’s website or Alcohol Change UK.
- Find alcohol addiction services near you using this NHS tool.