Sarah Jessica Parker admits to being ‘controlling’

Sarah Jessica Parker is a "controlling" wife and mother.

The 51-year-old actress – who has son James Wilkie, 14, and twin daughters Tabitha and Loretta, seven, with husband Matthew Broderick – admits she takes on responsibility for the majority of household tasks but still feels surprised at how well her spouse copes when she’s away with her work.

She said: "I do a lot because I’m controlling.

"I’m a person who is fastidious and exacting and so I do a huge amount.

"What is surprising is how much my husband can do and does in my absence.

"Everybody gets where they need to be. But still, he’s not going to put everything away at night. When I come home, I can see the path [of mess]."

Sarah’s most-recent role has come in TV show ‘Divorce’ and the drama series has taught her that none of the small things about her spouse that "annoy" her really matter in the broader context of their relationship.

She explained to Red magazine: "I learned something really important, which is be smart enough to recognise that the things that annoy you about a long-term partner don’t actually matter.

"Like anything that annoys me about Matthew – and trust me, there is a laundry list twice as long about things I do that annoy him, I’m sure of it – fundamentally it doesn’t matter.

"So if you’re still talking about the minutiae that annoys you, then the stuff that really matters must still be in place."

And the actress admits she would find it "weird" being with a man who wanted to speak too much about their feelings or was overly affectionate in public.

She said: "Generally speaking, you have to push men to have meaningful conversations, but then there are those men who want to talk too much and I’m like, ‘Oooh that’s weird!’

"Or much as you want your partner to be more loving, I’ll be at the school gates and some guy is always rubbing his wife’s back and I’m like, ‘Eurgh’. I don’t know why that bothers me."