When you think of Sarah Jessica Parker, you probably picture the cosmopolitan glamour of Manhattan, the high-fashion stiletto collection, or the effortless poise of Carrie Bradshaw. But if you really want to understand where that drive comes from, you have to look at Sarah Jessica Parker’s mom, Barbara Forste.
Life wasn’t always a red carpet. Long before the HBO deals and the shoe lines, Barbara was raising a massive family in the middle of Ohio, often juggling bills and literally reading The New Yorker at red lights just to keep her intellectual pilot light burning. Honestly, the story of Barbara Forste isn't just about being a "celebrity mom." It’s about a woman who refused to let a lack of money stifle her children's imagination.
Who is Barbara Forste?
Barbara Forste, born Barbara Keck, wasn't your typical Midwestern housewife. She was an educator, a nursery school operator, and a woman deeply obsessed with the arts. She grew up in Cincinnati and, according to SJP, was the kind of person who talked librarians into saving back issues of The Sunday Times for her.
She married Stephen Parker first, a journalist and entrepreneur, but they divorced when Sarah was just a toddler. Barbara then married Paul Forste, a truck driver. Together, they blended their families into a real-life "Brady Bunch" situation—eight kids in total.
You can imagine the scene. Eight kids. Limited income. One bathroom? Probably. It was, as Sarah has frequently described, "chaos."
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The Ohio Years: Creativity Over Cash
Money was tight. Like, "the electricity might get shut off" tight. SJP has been very open about the fact that her family sometimes lived on welfare and had to forgo Christmas or birthday presents because the funds just weren't there.
But here’s where Sarah Jessica Parker’s mom really stands out. While most people in that situation might just focus on survival, Barbara focused on "grand lives." She was intrepid. She’d scout out every free ballet performance, every community theater production, and every library program available.
"The theater and ballet were not about money," SJP told the New York Times. "It was about this grand idea of who we were as a family."
Barbara basically willed a career into existence for her kids. She didn’t see the arts as a luxury for the rich; she saw them as a necessity for the soul. She was a "child-wrangler" at the Metropolitan Opera and worked for organizations like the American Ballet Theater. She wasn't just watching from the sidelines; she was in the trenches of the New York arts scene, even when the family was still figuring out how to pay the rent.
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The Move That Changed Everything
When Sarah was just nine, she landed a role in The Innocents on Broadway. Most parents would see that as a cool hobby. Barbara saw it as a mandate. She packed up the whole family—all eight kids and Paul—and moved them to the East Coast to support Sarah's burgeoning career.
They landed in Roosevelt Island, then Manhattan, then New Jersey. It was a gamble. A huge one.
Was she a Stage Mom?
People love to throw that term around. "Stage mom." It usually implies someone living vicariously through their kid or pushing them for a paycheck.
Barbara herself addressed this, saying, "I would like to say that I was absolutely not a stage mother. But on some level, I was."
The nuance here is important. SJP has never described her mother as a tyrant. Instead, she describes her as a motivator. Barbara wanted her children to be "reliable people" who could support themselves emotionally and financially. She used the arts to give them a sense of dignity that their bank account couldn't provide.
The Enduring Legacy of Barbara Forste
Even now, with SJP being one of the most recognizable women on the planet, that "deprivation" her mother practiced still influences her. Sarah has often said she tries to make her own children "yearn" for things, just like she did. She wants them to understand that wanting something is a gift.
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In late 2022, the family faced a major loss when Sarah’s stepfather, Paul Forste, passed away at age 76. In her tribute, Sarah promised to "take good care of Mommy," a testament to the deep bond the family maintains.
Sarah Jessica Parker’s mom didn't just give her daughter a ride to auditions. She gave her a worldview. She taught her that you can be "strong like a bull" (as SJP described Paul) and still have room for the delicate beauty of the New York City Ballet.
Key Takeaways from the Forste Family Playbook
If you're looking for lessons from how Barbara raised a superstar (and seven other successful humans), it basically boils down to this:
- Resources aren't requirements: You don't need a massive budget to expose kids to the arts. Use libraries, free community events, and public spaces.
- Intellectual curiosity is contagious: If you're reading at stoplights, your kids will notice. Barbara’s love for reading became Sarah’s love for publishing.
- Chaos isn't failure: A house full of eight kids and unpaid bills is stressful, but it's also a training ground for resilience and creativity.
- Believe in "Grand Lives": Even in poverty, Barbara maintained an image of who her family could be. That vision became a reality.
To truly understand the "SJP" brand—the mix of high-brow intellect and scrappy work ethic—you have to see it as the direct result of Barbara Forste's influence. She turned a crowded house in Ohio into a launchpad for a cultural icon.
If you're interested in how this upbringing shaped Sarah's own approach to parenting, you might want to look into her comments on why she withholds certain luxuries from her children today. It's a fascinating look at how "having less" can sometimes lead to "being more."
Next Steps for Readers:
- Check out the archives of The New Yorker or The New York Times to see the kind of high-brow culture Barbara Forste insisted on for her family.
- Look up the history of Roosevelt Island in the 1970s to see the specific environment where the Parker-Forste family landed after leaving Ohio.
- Research the "SJP Lit" imprint to see how Sarah has carried her mother's love of reading into her professional life as a publisher.