Kristin Davis is opening up about suffering from body dysmorphia while filming “Sex and the City,” a condition she says was pointed out to her by co-star Sarah Jessica Parker.
The 60-year-old Emmy nominee — best known for playing Charlotte York on the HBO hit and its less beloved spinoff, “And Just Like That…” — spoke about her “thinness issue” on Monday’s episode of her “Are You a Charlotte?” podcast.
“I have had so many negative comments for probably the entirety of my career. But I think the things for me that lodged in there, where I had to create a thing around it … was relating to the thinness issue,” Davis said. “There were times when Sarah Jessica would be like, ‘You have body dysmorphia.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, those who suffer from the mental health condition perceive “defects or flaws” in their appearance that are either “minor or can’t be seen by others,” often leading to shame and anxiety.
Davis said that at the time, she doubted she was afflicted by body dysmorphia, “because the world [was] literally telling me daily that I am pear-shaped … to the point where you can’t think straight.”
But Davis admitted that she also had “disordered eating,” which eventually led to a particularly scary moment.
“I remember fainting in a parking lot one time because I was on some crazy diet,” she revealed. “You’re starving yourself … and then you’re trying to work and remember your lines.”
Only furthering her issues were the back-handed compliments Davis said she’d receive from fans on the street.
“There was a good number of years when … people would see me on the street and they would say, ‘Oh, but you’re not fat.’ And I know they didn’t mean anything bad. They mean it as a compliment, right? … But there’s like a weird cynicism about our industry and about us [as actors] that then permeates the thinking and the comments.”
Davis has played Charlotte on and off since “Sex and the City” debuted on HBO in 1998, reprising the role in two big-screen adaptations and “And Just Like That…,” which ends this week after three seasons.
Parker, who has played Carrie Bradshaw throughout the franchise, announced the cancellation news with a poem inspired by her character.
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