A timeline of Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick's decades-long love story and marriage (2024)

Advertisem*nt

1984-1991: Prior to dating Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker was in a relationship with Robert Downey Jr.

The pair met when they were just 18 years old and their relationship progressed quickly — they moved in together after just a few weeks of dating. Parker stood by Robert Downey Jr.'s side while he was struggling with addiction and drug abuse. However, the pair finally called it quits on their seven-year relationship in 1991.

"I liked to drink, and I had a drug problem, and that didn't jibe with Sarah Jessica, because it is the furthest thing from what she is," Downey told Parade in 2008. "She provided me a home and understanding. She tried to help me. She was so miffed when I didn't get my act together… I was in love with Sarah Jessica, and love clearly was not enough."

Advertisem*nt

1991: Shortly after her public breakup with Downey, Sarah Jessica Parker was introduced to "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" actor Matthew Broderick.

In the early '90s, Parker's brothers Toby and Pippin started a Broadway theater company called Naked Angels, and Broderick got involved. He was then introduced to Parker, a fellow Broadway enthusiast who got her big break when she starred in "Annie" as a teenager.

"Matthew and I come from a different time and place. When we were young people, all we ever wanted was to be good working actors. We didn't think of fame or money because, honestly, money was never part of the dream," Parker told Harper's Bazaar in 2013. "It was to work in theater, to be around those people whose work I was in total awe of."

Advertisem*nt

1992: Months after they met, Broderick finally called to ask Parker out on a date.

"He left a very charming, very self-effacing message on the machine," Parker told The New York Times in 1996. "You know, 'Hi, it's Matthew Broderick.' You had to use your last name."

They later went to a movie.

"I do remember first meeting her," Broderick said in 2012 of their first date, according to E! Online. "[...] And I still remember very clearly seeing her walk down the street toward the movie theater … it's very unique, because I wouldn't remember most people the first time I saw them come down the street. [But] I remember it as clear as day."

1993: The couple, pictured together at the Oscars, were both smitten from the very beginning.

"He's so bright, so handsome, I think he's the most handsome man I've seen in my life," Parker told the Los Angeles Times in 1996. "And he inspires me. I'm mad for him, totally."

Advertisem*nt

1996: Parker and Broderick acted opposite each other in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" on Broadway.

Above, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick can be seen celebrating their birthdays, which are only a few days apart on March 25 and March 21, respectively. Broderick is three years older.

In a 2022 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she said she knew early on that she wanted to marry Broderick — and wasn't afraid to let that fact be known.

"I think I learned early on when I was talking too much. I was like, 'I'm in love. When's he going to marry me?' Oh my God, I'm so sorry about that," she told Broderick. "I'm still apologizing for that."

Advertisem*nt

May 19, 1997: Parker and Broderick tied the knot in a surprise wedding ceremony.

The couple broke from tradition by surprising their 100 guests with the wedding ceremony at a Lower East Side synagogue – the guests believed they were going to a regular party.

Parker also subverted expectations by wearing a chic black gown by Morgane Le Fay instead of a traditional white wedding dress.

"I never thought about a wedding dress. Never. Had not one daydream about it," she told People in 2018. "At one point I just simply remember thinking, 'God, I really hope he asks me to marry him.' I don't know when or why. It was fairly early on."

Rumor has it that the couple and their guests danced the night away to show tunes.

Advertisem*nt

1998: Broderick and Parker were pictured at the premiere of HBO's "Sex and the City." Parker reportedly took the starring role at the urging of her husband.

According to E! Online, Broderick encouraged Parker to accept her famous role of Carrie Bradshaw.

Then, a few years later when Parker was accepting her second Golden Globe, she thanked Broderick for having "the courage to let me work with the likes of Chris Noth and John Slattery and John Corbett."

According to a previous article by Insider, Broderick turned down several opportunities to appear on the show opposite his wife, including the role of a "premature ejacul*tor" in the second season.

October 28, 2002: After five years of marriage, the couple welcomed their first child, James Wilkie Broderick.

"If I could revisit one moment in my life, it would be the birth of my children, definitely," Parker toldThe Editmagazine in 2016. "It's just you and, in my case, my husband, and this child, and it's absolute euphoria."

Advertisem*nt

June 22, 2009: Parker and Broderick welcomed their twin baby girls, Tabitha Hodge Broderick and Marion Loretta Elwell Broderick, via surrogate.

"We tried and tried and tried and tried to get pregnant," Parkertold Vogue in 2010, "but it just was not to be, the conventional way. I would give birth as often as I could, if I could. I cherished all the milestones, the good and the bad."

Parker and Broderick kept the expectation of their twins largely a secret.

"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," she continued.

2010: For high-profile celebrities, the Parker-Brodericks live a relatively normal life in New York City.

"We painted our patio furniture ourselves ... I make my children's food myself," Parker told Vogue in 2010. "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."

Advertisem*nt

August 2013: Parker opened up about how much she still adored Broderick all these years later.

"I love Matthew Broderick. Call me crazy, but I love him," the actress told Harper's Bazaar. "We can only be in the marriage we are. We're very devoted to our family and our lives. I love our life. I love that he's the father of my children, and it's because of him that there's this whole other world that I love."

Advertisem*nt

2014: Broderick was supportive when Robert Downey Jr. wanted to reconnect with his former flame.

Broderick voiced his support after Downey Jr. told Us Weekly "he wanted to catch up" with Parker.

"Of course, he's more than [OK to connect with her] — they're great friends," the actor told Us Weekly. "What would I say? No? Who do you think I am? No, I love Robert Downey and Sarah Jessica Parker so [yes]."

Advertisem*nt

2017: Parker and Broderick celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary.

"It flew by Baby," Parker wrote in a sweet Instagram post. "Good golly I love you. XXX, Your wife."

Advertisem*nt

2020: They planned to appear together in a revival of "Plaza Suite" on Broadway.

However, the coronavirus pandemic halted the show and forced the cast and crew to postpone until 2022.

"I was just reminded of how funny and smart and what a great actor she is," Broderick said on SiriusXM's "Quarantined with Bruce," according to Us Weekly. "But, she just, she's very good at it. So, I hope everybody gets to see her do it."

Advertisem*nt

February 14, 2022: Sarah Jessica Parker spilled to Andy Cohen about her and Broderick's first kiss.

"It was outside an apartment building," she told Cohen of their first kiss. "Maybe our second kiss ever, I had a Ricola [cough drop] in my mouth. It was the dead of winter, and I thought — well, it just seemed like a third party. So I spit it out into my gloved hand because I was getting on the subway… It was stuck on my glove. It made a sort of mark forever."

When asked when she knew Broderick was "the one," Parker said, "Fairly soon after I met him."

Advertisem*nt

February 25, 2022: Parker and Broderick's long-anticipated run of "Plaza Suite" opened on Broadway.

The revival of the 1968 comedy was originally slated for early 2020 but the full run was delayed as a result of the pandemic. Parker and Broderick play three different, unconnected roles who stay in the same suite at the Plaza Hotel at different times.

"The fear is that I don't want [us being] a real couple to make you not believe the fantasy of it," Broderick toldHemispheres magazine. "I want it to be a believable play. So I always get scared that you might not get lost in the play enough. But as soon as we started it, I didn't feel that."

"[Sarah Jessica's] such a wonderful actor and a wonderful comedian, and people maybe aren't as aware of her stage chops," he continued. "They really are something. I think it's a real pleasure to watch her and be reminded of how good she is at that. As far as the personal, luckily we don't seem to have gotten into any fights that bleed over from the practice into the theater, or vice versa."

Advertisem*nt

May 19, 2022: The pair celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Parker said that "one of the reasons we've had success is because we don't talk about our marriage."

"I'm not flattering myself that anyone's discussing my marriage, but we're certainly not going to add to it by saying, 'Well, this is why it works.' Next thing you know, there'll be a very public divorce," she said. "So we just try to respect each other."