Kristin Davis Says She “Shed Tears” Over Ridicule Of “Bad” Facial Fillers

Having joined Sex and the City in her 30s, Kristin Davis’ portrayal of Charlotte York has now spanned decades. The now-58-year-old actor still has to remind herself that it’s OK to age beyond Season 1 Charlotte, though. “It’s hard to be confronted with your younger self at all times. It’s a challenge to remember that you don’t have to look like that,” Davis explained in a new interview with the UK’s The Telegraph. “The internet wants you to — but they also don’t want you to. They’re very conflicted.”

That became particularly evident after she signed on for HBO’s SATC spinoff, And Just Like That, which premiered in December 2021. Admitting she’s had “good and bad” experiences with Botox and facial fillers, online trolls’ harsh criticism of her look ramped up when she stepped back into Charlotte’s designer heels. “I’ve had to get them dissolved, and I’ve been ridiculed relentlessly,” Davis added. “And I have shed tears about it. It’s very stressful.”

More tactful members of the actor’s inner circle were able to give her more gentle guidance when she had work done to her lips — though the damage had already been done. “No one told me it didn’t look good for the longest time,” she told the publication, noting how “people personally blame” her for what is actually the doctor’s mistake. “Luckily I do have good friends who did say eventually — the thing is you don’t smile at yourself in the mirror. Who smiles at themselves in the mirror? Crazy people.”

Davis previously made similar comments when discussing the intense scrutiny of her and her castmates’ appearances. “It can also be extremely stressful to be aging and to be compared to your much, much, much younger self,” the mom of two told NewBeauty in January 2022. “If I was from a regular life, I would feel fine; I would feel great! I’m healthy, I’m strong, I’ve got this little three-year-old son, and I carry him around and it’s all good—but, no, I’m on television, where every bit of my physical being is analyzed. That part was always very stressful and difficult for me, because, as much as I can look back on my life and think, ‘Oh, I looked great then,’ you never think that at the time. I guess no one does.”

Meanwhile, her SATC co-star Kim Cattrall also recently opened up about anti-aging cosmetic procedures, on the heels of news that she’ll return to cameo as Samantha Jones in AJLT Season 2. “I’m in my sixties now and I’m all about battling aging in every way I can,” the 66-year-old How I Met Your Father actor recently told The Sunday Times. “There are so many other alternatives now, treatments that stimulate your own body to fight aging. There are fillers, Botox, there’s so many different things that you can investigate and try and see if it’s for you. . . . But yes, if you have the money and, more importantly, the right surgeon. It can’t be emphasized enough. You want to look like you.”

Adding that “it’s not just a vanity thing,” Cattrall reasoned, “I play a certain kind of woman who looks a certain kind of way. And professionally, I am looking after myself.”