--- title: candace bushnell carrie and big relationship analysis description: Candace Bushnell opens up about the Hollywood ending of the show — which, she says, is not the same as the reality that women face. canonical: https://time.com/4846970/candace-bushnell-on-carrie-big/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-06T15:44:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:45:09.957Z og:title: Sex & the City Author: Carrie & Big Shouldn't Be Together og:description: Candace Bushnell admits the iconic couple are a Hollywood ending, not a reality og:url: https://time.com/4846970/candace-bushnell-on-carrie-big/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt96cf84512d9d3caf/69887d23bc6cfc27f43dbaf7/sex-and-the-city-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3904 og:image:height: 2196 og:image:alt: Sex and the City Season 2 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sex & the City Author: Carrie & Big Shouldn't Be Together twitter:description: Candace Bushnell admits the iconic couple are a Hollywood ending, not a reality twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt96cf84512d9d3caf/69887d23bc6cfc27f43dbaf7/sex-and-the-city-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The _Sex and the City_ Author Is Here to Tell You Carrie and Big Should Never Have Ended Up Together > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=1f5ae924-a370-4de5-aba8-712adb884f31&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jul 6, 2017 3:44 PM UTC  HBO  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jul 6, 2017 3:44 PM UTC For many fans, writer Candace Bushnell’s “[Sex and the City” column](http://time.com/4216658/valentines-day-tv-couples-compatible/item/carrie-big-sex-and-the-city/) for the _New York Observer_ — which turned into the landmark HBO show [_Sex and the City_](http://time.com/4512848/sjp-almost-didnt-do-sex-and-the-city/) starring [Sarah Jessica Parker](http://time.com/4512848/sjp-almost-didnt-do-sex-and-the-city/), and then two marquee movies — is the embodiment of the single woman experience during the era; even years later, it remains a cultural touchpoint. Central to the story, of course, is a love interest for main character [Carrie Bradshaw.](http://time.com/3993620/carrie-bradshaws-apartment-candace-bushnell/) Along the course of six seasons and two movies, that love interest, Mr. Big, morphs from a handsome bachelor into the groom at Carrie’s wedding. But maybe that Hollywood ending is just that: a Hollywood ending. In a new interview with [Bushnell](http://time.com/3676992/celebrities-advice-20s/item//), the writer opened up about the difference between love in real life and love onscreen. “Well, I think, in real life, Carrie and Big wouldn’t have ended up together,” Bushnell [told _The Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jul/03/candace-bushnell-sex-and-the-city-trump-tinder-new-york-city?CMP=edit%5F2221). “But at that point the TV show had become so big. Viewers got so invested in the storyline of Carrie and Big that it became a bit like Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett. They had become an iconic couple and women really related to it; they would say ‘I found my Mr. Big’ or ‘I just broke up with my Mr. Big,'” she noted of the show’s cultural impact. “It became part of the lexicon. And when people are making a TV show, it’s show business, not show art, so at that point it was for the audience and we weren’t thinking about what the impact would be 10 years later.” Sorry, romantics. 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