Sarah Jessica Parker on the Struggle of Being a Working Mom: You ‘Want to Maintain This Other Part of Your Life’

Sarah Jessica Parker has been exposed to all sorts of emotions on the parenting spectrum.

A specific emotion she can relate to personally is a popular one: guilt.

“[Parenting] changes you in every possible way, but there’s a struggle, there’s a conflict that exists, which is you also want to maintain this other part of your life,” the Divorce star told PEOPLE and Entertainment Weekly Editorial Director Jess Cagle.

“The reason it’s a conflict, usually, is that you like the other life, too,” adds the actress, 51. “Someone [told me] that working mothers who work outside of home feel guilty about work because they like the work.”

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Parker, who has three children with husband Matthew Broderick (7-year-old twin daughters Tabitha and Loretta and 13-year-old son James), touches on the fact that guilt isn’t the only emotion working moms have. In fact, she believes that when women don’t love their work, their feelings are quite different.

“That’s the issue. For many working women in this country who are working two and three jobs, it’s not guilt that they suffer, because they don’t love their work,” explains the Sex and the City alum. “It’s worry, concern, and time away from their children. It’s such a different experience.”

The actress and fashion designer, who stars in and produces the new HBO dramedy, admits that there are definitely pros to being a working mom even when it comes directly to her children’s well-being.

“The things that I want to impress upon all of my children are the things that are the hardest for me to get right in business,” she says.

— Jen Juneau