What's it like to be Sarah Jessica Parker? These days, it's less "Manolo," more "Mommy."

In these moments -- sentimental, silly and refreshingly human -- Parker most often evokes Carrie Bradshaw, her fabulous and flawed "Sex and the City" character beloved by women worldwide. Her hands circle and clasp as she talks, and her mascara-swathed eyes pulsate with feeling. She is more playful than poised, belying her elegant red carpet shots.

(On the "Sex" sequel, star and producer Parker is tight-lipped on plot twists but promises a "romp" and "caper." It's the "antidote" to the "bleak" tones of infidelity and abandonment in the first blockbuster, she insists.)

In June, Parker welcomed twin girls into her fold, thanks to a surrogate mom from Ohio. She loves the hectic day-to-day of new motherhood, focusing on the present moment rather than a long plan. "If I gave thought to how culture and society shapes young women, I would probably have an anxiety attack," she says.

The family employs two nannies, who work alternate weeks to help care for the budding brood. Parker is quick to express gratitude for being in a position where she can have people assist her. "I hear a lot of actresses pretend they don't have help, and that can't be true," says Parker, who thinks of how her own mother, a teacher, struggled to raise her large family. "It's really unfair to working women in this country who read [celebrity news] and think, Why can't I lose weight when I've had a baby? Well, everyone you're reading about has money for a trainer and a chef. That doesn't make it realistic."

Although the surrogacy suggests that natural childbirth is no longer an option for Parker, 44, she hints her clan may expand further still. "It doesn't mean it's over," she says. "It doesn't mean we won't continue to try to have a bigger family, that we won't continue to pursue all sorts of ways of doing it, adoption -- who knows?"

Parker isn't wearing a wedding band on her unmanicured finger because, she says, she has to remove it for work. But she recites the date inscribed inside -- May 19, 1997 -- calculating that by next spring, she and Broderick, 47, will have been married for 13 years, together for 18. The former gal pal of Robert Downey Jr., John F. Kennedy Jr. and Nicolas Cage briefly reminisces about her courtship by Broderick and their Sundays spent in New York's Chinatown, but is reticent about how they make their marriage work. "He's too old to leave, I'm too old to leave, nobody's going to want us," she says wryly, before quickly adding, "I'm kidding!"

The quip opens the door for inquiry about last year's rumors that Broderick had strayed from the marriage, but Parker declines to discuss "anything that had been generated by sa?lacious, fake news sources."

The atypical beauty will, however, confirm that she had a mole removed from her face last summer. (A stickler for detail, Parker made sure Car?rie had a mole in flashback scenes in the "Sex" sequel.) The actress says she can't believe that anyone cared about or even noticed the procedure -- the blogosphere and tabloids had a field day -- but she recalls a woman who confronted her on the beach, accusing her of having destroyed her "signature." All Parker could think was: "My signature isn't my brain?"

It is to those who know her. "She's very eclectic and has a very strange mind," says co-star Grant, who was fascinated by her music collection, the result of a TV-less childhood in Ohio and New York that was packed with records, dance and voice lessons. "It was really weird, like Chinese and Turkish music and then Barbra Streisand. I came to love it."

That mind also has helped Parker, "SJ" to friends, transcend acting to become an entire brand, a shrewd move that balances the lukewarm reviews her "Sex"-less screen roles have earned her (2006's "Failure to Launch," for starters). Playing Carrie Bradshaw put Parker at fashion's forefront, transforming her into a red-carpet regular, bringing endorsements for Gap and Garnier, launch?ing three signature fragrances, and inspiring her short-lived fash?ion line. Parker attributes her keen sense of style to her mother, who dressed her in carefully hand-smocked dresses as a child.

Her cultural clout also has helped put her in the producer's seat. In addition to several films and projects for TV, she is working on a reality show for artists on Bravo called "Work of Art," which is currently filming its first season. But how she talks about wearing the producer hat may suggest where her head and heart lie after spending a decade in the bright spotlight.

"I love producing for the same reason I love being a mother," she says, that glow creeping into her eyes. "It's a lot about taking care of other people and creating something and being able to not be the focus of it."

SJP dishes about alter ego Carrie Bradshaw and the next "Sex and the City" movie.

"I'm envious of her"

After six seductive seasons of "Sex and the City," a titillating movie version and another one to come in the spring, you'd think Sarah Jessica Parker would be weary of playing lovelorn sex columnist Carrie Bradshaw. But the actress says even 11 years after first portraying Carrie in all her trials and triumphs, she still adores the role.

"It's a wonderful part because she's not so archetypal," Parker says. "I think if I felt like The Fonz [of TV's "Happy Days" fame], it may feel like a trap, and I might have some resentment about it. But I really like playing her."

Fans are frothing at their Chanel-lipsticked mouths for the inside scoop on "SATC 2." There's talk of '80s flashbacks, Morocco adventures, a possible gay wedding. Parker assures us that the sequel is "fun," the opposite of the first blockbuster, which she says was about "really coming to terms with your own complicity in disappointment and sadness."

Some may confuse the actress with her iconic "SATC" character, but Parker is quick to note that she and Carrie are very different.

"One of the many differences between myself and Carrie Bradshaw is that it's as if she has 48 hours in her day," says the busy actress, producer and mom. "She can really luxuriate in her friendships and nurture them by virtue of the choices she had made in terms of career and family. I am not given the same kind of leisure time, and I am envious of it."

-- RL