Davis, who played Charlotte York in Sex And The City, recently reflected on how the cast felt about nudity on the show.
Davis recalled that she and her co-stars were genuinely “scared” of being typecast. (Photo Credit: Instagram)
Looking back at the late 90s and early 2000s, it’s hard to imagine the landscape of Hollywood being quite as open and daring as it is now. The landscape of fashion, especially on the red carpet, has undergone a transformation, with bold outfits like sheer dresses and daring cuts becoming the norm. But, according to Kristin Davis, this wasn’t always the case, particularly when it came to nudity in shows like Sex and the City.
Davis, who played the beloved Charlotte York on the groundbreaking HBO series, recently reflected on how the cast felt about nudity on the show. In a candid conversation on her Are You a Charlotte? podcast, she explained how the fear of being ostracised from the industry played a big part in their initial hesitation to strip down on screen.
“Look at how people present themselves now,” Davis observed, pointing out how common it is to see celebrities flaunting sheer or revealing outfits, where even private areas could be on display. “It’s totally normal to have almost everyone on a red carpet in a sheer dress where, potentially, their nipples are showing. Like, this never would have happened back in the olden days,” she added.
She continued, recalling how she and her co-stars were genuinely “scared” of being typecast or even shunned by the industry for nudity. “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,” she admitted.
Davis isn’t the only one who has opened up about the complexities of nudity on the show. In a 2023 interview, her co-star Sarah Jessica Parker discussed her own boundaries before agreeing to star as Carrie Bradshaw. The actress shared how her initial concern with the script was actually about nudity. She sat down with creator Darren Star and expressed her worries, explaining, “The only thing I said to him that I was concerned about was that I just didn’t feel comfortable doing nudity.”
Parker went on to reveal the reassuring conversation she had with Star, who respected her decision not to appear nude.
Her personal experience was rooted in shyness rather than any judgment toward others. “I was just shy. I never had any judgments about actors who do go nude. I just never felt comfortable being nude. I didn’t think it would change my perception of myself or create opportunities that I might not be interested in. I was shy,” Parker admitted.
As the show prepares to launch its third season on Max’s And Just Like That, Davis, along with Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kim Cattrall, is reprising her role as Charlotte. The new season, set for release in 2025, promises to continue the iconic journey of these women, but it’s clear that the conversations around nudity and body image in Hollywood have come a long way since the early days of Sex and the City.
