Kristin Davis Shares Why the 'Sex and the City' Cast Was "Scared" of Showing Their Nipples on TV
"Like, would we be shunned?"
Upon its release in 1998, HBO's Sex and the City broke so many boundaries. Unlike any other show before it, Sex and the City—based on the book of the same name by Candace Bushnell—explored the lives of four sexually empowered women as they navigated the dating world in New York. As a result, some of the show's main cast were required to partake in nudity, which was a little terrifying at times, according to Charlotte York herself, Kristin Davis.
On a new episode of her podcast—"Are You a Charlotte?"—Davis discussed the ways in which women are perceived in the world and on TV with clinical psychologist Dr. Hillary Goldsher. "Look at how people present themselves now," Davis said (via Entertainment Weekly). "It's totally normal to have almost everyone on a red carpet in a sheer dress where, potentially, their nipples are showing."
"We were like, 'Oh my God. They want us to show our nipples.'"
However, when the show first started airing in the late '90s, tasteful public nudity was much less common, as Davis explained, "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.'" She continued, "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 is set to return for the third season of Sex and the City spin-off, And Just Like That..., alongside Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon later this year. While Davis's performance as Charlotte York is integral to the franchise, the early days of Sex and the City were a little fraught for the actress. On a previous episode of her podcast, Davis recalled receiving an incredibly low financial offer to reprise her role as Charlotte York on the first season of the HBO mega-hit.
Kristin Davis as Charlotte York.
While filming the show's pilot, Davis was urged to sign a new contract, as she explained, "I take the paperwork and I look at it and it seems to be a new contract, but it's only two pages long, and I'm like, 'What is this?' And it says, 'You will be a recurring character and you will be paid $5,000.'" The Holiday in the Wild star continued, "I know that the pilot's costing a lot and that they're stressed at HBO about it...I think the pilot cost like $2.5 million roughly, which at the time was a lot because no-one really filmed in Manhattan."
Luckily, Davis's lawyer told her not to sign anything. "I was scared," she explained on the podcast. "But it was also very clear from the book and from the script and from the pilot that Charlotte's point of view was a different point of view than the other girls."
