Sarah Jessica Parker on aging and juggling her career and her family life.

Vogue shoot: Sarah Jessica Parker with Tabitha and Loretta.    © Mario Testino

Sarah Jessica Parker graces the cover of the annual Age Issue of Vogue. In the article the actress, 46, talks about getting older, balancing her career and her family life, and Sex and the City.

In her day-to-day life SJP is married to Matthew Broderick and mom to son James Wilkie, 8, and twins Tabitha and Loretta, 2. SJP's life could not differ more from that of her Sex and the City character Carrie Bradshaw. SJP says, "Bradshaw’s life is nothing—nothing—like mine. I loved playing her, and it changed my life in lots of wonderful ways, but I’m not a crazy shoe lady, I don’t think about fashion all day long, although I have a great respect for the industry." Her role as Kate in her upcoming movie I Don't Know How She Does It was far more relatable, "every choice we’ve made has been different, but with Kate I really understood the attempt at a life."

As a cover model of the annual Age Issue, it will come as no surprise that SJP also talked about getting older. She told Vogue, "I kept thinking that this age was the one to be worried about. Like probably for the last five, six years I kept thinking, Oh, this is that age that I’ve heard about; this is that bad age where the work slows down. I assumed that at this point in my life I would be feeling frustrated, left behind, or marginalized, playing parts I was reluctant to. But I’ve been so busy, I’m not so sure that I see this fallow period yet. I’m not saying it’s not coming and that it won’t hit me like a ton of bricks, but I do find work that I’m excited about and interested in with people that I want to work with."

Vogue shoot: Sarah Jessica Parker with James Wilkie (far right) and two of his friends.  © Mario Testino

SJP is still in demand as an actress, despite the (supposed?) lack of roles for 40+ actresses. Life as a working mom means lots and lots of thinking ahead, this has caused SJP to describe her life as "a ship avoiding icebergs". She explains, "the internal lists, the children’s doctor’s appointments, the letters to write, the school projects. . . ." The "strategic planning" that a family requires leads her to say, "what you have to do and how to get the kids from A to B, and whatever is required of you at your work. And maybe you can toss in friendships that need to be attended to. . . . The thing that’s most surprising to me is how much we do in a day." SJP adds to that, "We don't have any live-in help. We're pretty hands-on parents.That's something that's important to both of us, and we don't shirk it, because what's the point in having a family if you're not going to really participate in it, you know?"

There's one thing about aging that worries her, "honestly, the only thing that I'm concerned about is the energy: I hope I can maintain the energy." She thinks of her twin girls in particular, saying, "I think about all the years I've spent parenting James Wilkie and everything I put into it, and there are two of them."