Mario Testino/VogueSarah Jessica Parker and her husband Matthew Broderick (who have a 7-year-old son named James Wilkie) expanded their family on June 22 of last year when they welcomed twin daughters Tabitha Hodge (nicknamed "Babe") and Marion Loretta Elwell (nicknamed "Kitty") via a surrogate mother. "[I] tried and tried and tried and tried and tried to get pregnant," shares Parker in the May issue of Vogue. "But it just was not to be, the conventional way -- I would give birth as often as I could, if I could." That's why the couple turned to surrogacy.
While the 45-year-old actress was excited at the prospect of having twin daughters, the nine months leading up to their arrival was tough. "I think the biggest thing [about surrogacy] is you can't celebrate something that is potentially filled with joy, nor can you share fears and worries about every checkup, you know -- the 16-week checkup, the amnio, the this, the that..." she says. "And the waiting is different, the whole nine months. We couldn't talk about the fact that we were having children to anybody for soooo long. All the stuff that matters is secretive and worrisome. You can't talk about how you feel about the woman who's carrying your children; you can only talk about it to your husband. And he just doesn't want to talk about it as much as you do."
Sarah Jessica Parker strikes a pose in a Vera Wang butterscotch silk duchesse-satin dress with matching bolero. …
Upon seeing her new babies for the first time, SJP was speechless. "Meeting your children rather than giving birth to them, it's as if, um, it's -- suspended animation," she shares. "The gestational experience is gone. It's as if everything else disappears for a moment, and the world goes silent and -- I can't explain it except to say that nothing else existed. I don't remember anything but the blanket on the bed that they were lying on and my husband's face and their faces and my son's. It's literally as if sound is sucked from the room. Time stands still. It's so different, and equally extraordinary."
What's rather ordinary about the Parker-Broderick clan is that while she and her main squeeze are celebs, they make an effort to be as normal as possible. "I make my children's food myself," she says. "We put together their high chairs ourselves; we do a lot ourselves! We do our own grocery shopping, we go to the market ourselves, you know? I do my laundry."
The fashionista looks regal in a Lanvin dusty-rose cotton-and-silk strapless column dress and Solange Azagury-Partridge …
Since she's not afraid to be domestic, SJP wasn't thrilled that she had to leave her three kids to film "Sex and the City 2." She and her co-stars spent seven weeks shooting the highly-anticipated sequel in Morocco, which is supposed to be a stand in for the Middle East. Despite reports, Parker swears there was no drama on set -- only good times. "We four women, despite I guess what a lot of people hope, have never been better," she smiles. "This movie -- and maybe it's because we actually lived together -- it was the best! We were together all day long, at night, in the restaurants, in our hotels. It was wonderful."
Jessica Biel Goes Glam in Vogue
But because they filmed a lot of the flick in what is supposed to be Abu Dhabi, don't expect Carrie Bradshaw's wardrobe to be as sexy as it usually is. "[Costume designer Patricia Field] wanted all the characters to be interesting, sexy, all the stories that Pat likes to tell with clothing, but we had religious and environmental and cultural standards to respect," notes SJP. "You have to look at clothing and women and women's bodies completely differently. And you start to see how you can still see so much with someone covered. And how exciting that is and how beautiful it is and how draping can be incredibly sexy ... I don't think Carrie's worn a long dress in years; she doesn't really do that. Unless it's whimsy. Or over-the-top couture."
Read the full interview with SJP at Vogue.com, or pick up the May issue when it hits newsstands on Tuesday, April 20.
SJP is ready for the ball in her Dior Haute Couture blush-and-claret silk strapless gown and Bulgari necklace. …
Watch the trailer for "Sex and the City 2"!
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