“Sex and the City” star Sarah Jessica Parker has been sued Wednesday by a jewelry maker who says that the actress stiffed the company on an endorsement agreement for a line bearing Parker’s name.
According to the suit, filed in federal court in New York by Kat Florence Design Limited, Kat Florence and Parker entered into an agreement for a “special line of high-end jewelry made of D color flawless diamonds and other gem types.”
The company also agreed to start at least three stand-alone shops in cities such as London and Rome, the suit says, and Parker agreed to do “photo shoots, personal appearances, and personal interviews in support of the line.”
“The Defendant Parker agreed to be part of the process in exchange for a payment over time of $7.5 million,” the suit reads. “Notwithstanding such agreement, she refused to properly participate and comply with her contractual obligations, making the success of this enterprise impossible.”
A spokesperson for Parker told TheWrap in a statement Wednesday, “Kat Florence reneged on their contract with Sarah Jessica Parker. They have refused to compensate her after fulfilling her contractual obligations and continue to use her image for advertising and publicity to promote their brand.”
Citing sources “close to” Parker, TMZ reports that the actress was given numerous other requests that weren’t included in the original contract, including 50 Instagram posts a year, wearing the jewelry to 24 events annually as well as to all awards shows, wearing a piece of the jewelry to all magazine shoots and doing a dozen international magazine interviews discussing the line annually.
According to the suit, Parker dragged her feet on saying whether she would be available for the planned date and time of the launch event for the line, then “stated that she was only available on one date, a Tuesday morning and afternoon, of Oct. 25, 2016, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. This date and time could not possibly work for the evening product launch that was being planned and was part of the contractual obligations. Notwithstanding, the Defendant refused to provide any alternative evening times or dates.
“As a result of the Defendant’s failure to attend the signature event, the event had to be cancelled as the launch of Sarah Jessica Parker D-Flawless Diamond collection without her attendance made no sense,” the suit continues.
The suit also says that Parker told the company that she wouldn’t be able to do anything under the agreement from November 2016 through March 2017 because of her series, even though she “was well aware that the line needed to be launched in time for the holiday season in November and December, 2016.”
“Yet, she announced not far from this time period that she was unavailable throughout the entire holiday season and three months thereafter,” the complaint says. “This action essentially destroyed the viability of launching the line.”
The jewelry manufacturer also says that Parker “refused to attend other events claiming her scheduling was too hectic. In addition” and “she refused to do interviews in relation to the jewelry line,” instead claiming that “it would be better for the Plaintiff if she promoted her own television show instead which would then indirectly assist the Plaintiff in promoting her line. Putting aside whether that was true, which it was not, it was not for the Defendant to determine the marketing
strategies of the Plaintiff on her own.”
Alleging breach of endorsement contract and negligent misrepresentation, the suit seeks unspecified damages.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.