When it was her turn to accept the Outstanding Mother of the Year honor, actress, producer and fashionista Sarah Jessica Parker used the moment as her very own confessional.
The mother of three, who inspired shoe lovers everywhere in her role as Carrie Bradshaw on the iconic television romantic drama “Sex and the City,” was among four moms honored today by the National Mother’s Day Committee.
“I in no way think this lovely gesture is based on merit,” Parker told a packed room at the 38th Annual Outstanding Mother Awards at The Pierre Hotel in New York. “So I will bear all. [As a mother], I fear that I am impatient, exacting and, often on a set, in a meeting, or occupied by my Blackberry when I should be picking up or dropping off at school, making dinner, depositing a child or even hosting a play date.”
Parker was the last to take the stage, following the event’s other honorees: Camuto Group creative director Louise Camuto, inventor and president of Ingenious Designs LLC Joy Mangano and Nordstrom Inc.’s EVP and GM of beauty Gemma Lionello. (Mangano is the subject of the Academy-Award-nominated biopic, “Joy,” starring Jennifer Lawrence.)
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Parker, who launched her SJP Collection shoe line in 2013, said she often struggles with guilt as she attempts to juggle her work and family obligations.
“Chaperoning trips is often out of the question due to my schedule [but] I aim for at least one [trip] a year per child,” she said. “I have three children, so I do the math. I happily visit Ellis Island or the Brooklyn Bridge or the kitchen of a restaurant holding the soft and sweaty hands of 6-year-olds or I try to wrangle a group of 12-year-olds without embarrassing my own 12-year-old [in order to] lessen the guilt.”
Parker added, “I’m often out of the country or in a different time zone and that Blackberry I mentioned doesn’t have an option for Facetime. I worry, all the time, about my children and I’m always concerned about their well-being.”
Since launching the SJP Collection, the designer and businesswoman has been very hands on — seeing the line gain shelf space in high-end department stores Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Bloomingdales.
Parker closed her comments by dedicating her award to other mothers “who don’t have the resources [that I have] that allow me to work with comfort and security outside the home. Who, from day to day, don’t have reliable childcare and [have to] live paycheck to paycheck. Who, most importantly, don’t have the liberty I have to choose to work.”
Parker is mom to 6-year-old twin girls Marion and Tabitha Broderick and 13-year-old son James Broderick.
