Fans of Sex and the City know that the show went through some major changesover the years. In season 1, for instance, strangers on the street gave their takes on Carrie’s (Sarah Jessica Parker) most burning questions. And, as it turns out, there was another aspect of the show that Parker herself vetoed early on.

In a recent episode of Kristin Davis’ podcast, Are You a Charlotte?, Davis and one of SATC‘s former guest actors, John Benjamin Hickey, remembered why Parker fought against breaking the fourth wall.

“Sarah Jessica’s very open mission was to get rid of talking to the camera,” Davis remembered, per Entertainment Weekly. “Because I remember in the pilot her saying, ‘You know, do I have to talk to the camera? It’s so strange to break the fourth wall. I’m in this scene.'”

As Parker debated with creator Darren Star about it, she explained that she was worried about comparisons to the 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which her husband, Matthew Broderick, starred in. In the movie, Broderick’s character Ferris often pauses to the camera to share his inner thoughts or give the audience, as if they’re a friend of his, some advice. As a reminder, Parker and Broderick got married in 1997 while the first season of SATC aired a year later in 1998.

“[She was] worried about Ferris Bueller, which I had never thought of,” the And Just Like That star said. “She thought she was never going to live up to that, which is so adorable.”

“I had never seen an actress be able to speak so clearly about what they wanted to do and what they didn’t want to do without being angry or histrionic or whatever,” Davis gushed about her longtime co-star. “Just very clearly articulating why it was hard for her, why she felt like she wasn’t doing it well, how she felt like it was better to stay with us in the scene.”

“And I was like, ‘Yes. Yes. I agree with her,'” Davis remembered. “Then she zinged, ‘Not that anyone cares what I think over here!'”

As longtime fans of the show know, Parker instead opted to do narrations for the show. In them, she shares her inner thoughts as well as reads lines from her iconic sex and lifestyle column. It’s an iconic choice by itself, and it didn’t ruffle any feathers at home. A win-win, right?

Before you go, click here to see all the celebrity couples who met on set.