Sarah Jessica Parker Shares What Makes Her ‘a Little Bit Heartsick’ When She Thinks Back on Her Career (Exclusive)

Sarah Jessica opened up about a part of the entertainment industry that makes her “a little bit heartsick.”

Parker, 60, spoke to PEOPLE exclusively at the Golden Globes’ Golden Eve event in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Jan. 6, where she received the 2026 Carol Burnett Award, which honors outstanding contributions in television.

During the conversation, the star shared that while she is grateful for all that she has accomplished in her decades-long career, she also knows that there are incredibly talented performers who didn’t have her luck.

“I’m feeling good fortune that I was able to sort it all out and carve out a career for myself. It’s what I most wanted from the time I was very little,” she told PEOPLE.

“And I don’t pretend I didn’t work hard and was dedicated to the point of distraction, perhaps. But I think that I’m always aware that other people worked just as hard and didn’t have that same good fortune,” she continued.

She added, “I’m proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish, but sometimes I’m a little bit heartsick over those that were really talented [and didn’t make it]. On a night like tonight, when I’m forced to reflect, I feel incredibly lucky that I got to work on the kind of projects I did, and learn from legends and emerging actors, and have extraordinary stories to tell and great directors. I feel like I really got far more than I had ever hoped for.”

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Parker got her first big break in the industry playing Annie on Broadway in 1979 at 14 years old — though she had booked smaller parts in the years prior. She achieved more national recognition several years later in 1982 when she starred as nerdy high schooler Patty in the CBS sitcom Square Pegs.

She went on to appear in a string of films, many of which were both fan and critical successes, including Footloose, Hocus Pocus and The First Wives Club.

The actress became a household name when she landed the lead role of Carrie Bradshaw in the iconic HBO series Sex and the City, which premiered in 1998.

The series originally aired for six seasons and included two feature films. Those led to two seasons of the sequel series, And Just Like That.

Parker opened up about the legacy of her Sex and the City character while appearing on the June 2025 episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, where she said it was “exciting” to take on such a bold role.

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“First of all, the way she was speaking, like her choice of language, I’d never seen or heard a woman talk like that,” she recalled of Carrie, adding that she respected “her candor” and “curiosity about sex and sexual politics.”

“Which is not like me — I don’t talk about that at all even with friends,” Parker noted. “I’ll talk about it globally, but I don’t sit and share intimate details of my life that way.”

“I admired that she was scrappy,” the Failure to Launch actress revealed. “She was a little survivor. She had instincts to keep her head [up], not always making smart choices and falling short of being the best friend or the best girlfriend or her best self, but I also was very happy that they were writing her that way.”