\n<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no wonder Candace Bushnell<\/strong><\/a> is the inspiration behind Sex and the City\u2019s<\/em><\/a> Carrie Bradshaw \u2014 her real-life romantic escapades are just as entertaining.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou know, I have so many crazy dating adventures. I mean, one week I dated a guy who was 21 and a guy who was 91,\u201d Bushnell, 64, exclusively told Us Weekly<\/em> while promoting her one-woman show, True Tales of Sex, Success and Sex and the City<\/em>. \u201cNobody tells you this is gonna happen. Like, that the age range is going to be 60 years.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Bushnell\u2019s column in the\u00a0New York Observer<\/em>\u00a0was the inspiration for the bestselling SATC\u00a0<\/em>anthology book series, which was later turned into the famous HBO comedy that ran from 1998 to 2004. The show followed Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker<\/strong><\/a>) along with her BFFs<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Miranda (Cynthia Nixon<\/strong><\/a>), Samantha (Kim Cattrall<\/strong><\/a>) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis<\/strong><\/a>) through their dating lives in New York City.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Bushnell\u2019s \u201ccrazy\u201d life as a single woman in the Big Apple may have served as an influence for six seasons, two subsequent movies, a prequel and a Max spinoff<\/a>, but the author never had plans to play the role of Carrie herself \u2014 even when Parker, 58, wasn\u2019t sure she was right for it either.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere was maybe one moment when Sarah Jessica Parker forgot that she made the pilot and, I don\u2019t know, it\u2019s a story. She wasn\u2019t sure if she wanted to do it<\/a>,\u201d Bushnell explained. \u201cSo I think there was a moment when they were like, \u2018Well, maybe [Candace] could do it.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018No. I wouldn\u2019t even know how to do it.\u2019 So I\u2019ve actually always been thrilled that [Sarah is] Carrie Bradshaw. I mean, she\u2019s fabulous.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In fact, Bushnell doesn\u2019t think Carrie \u2014 or any of the other women from the Sex and the City<\/em> franchise \u2014 fully represent her at all.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t feel like the character is me. I didn\u2019t marry a rich man,\u201d Bushnell shared, seemingly referring to ex-husband Charles Askegard,<\/strong> whom she divorced in 2012. \u201cI didn\u2019t marry Mr. Big. But I\u2019m single again. I\u2019m dating, I have been for a while. And I\u2019m always working and coming up with new ideas. I\u2019m about being your own Mr. Big as I like to say.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While Carrie did marry Mr. Big (Chris Noth<\/strong><\/a>), his death was the catalyst for the Max series And Just Like That, which premiered in 2021. The show\u2019s second season, however, shows Carrie coming face to face with another former flame: her ex-fianc\u00e9, Aidan Shaw (John Corbett<\/strong><\/a>).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Carrie and Aidan dated on and off starting in season 3<\/a> of the OG series. While they called it quits after she cheated with Big, the twosome rekindled their romance and even got engaged before Carrie decided she wasn\u2019t ready for marriage. The pair later shared a smooch in the second Sex and the City<\/em> movie, despite both being married, but ultimately went their separate ways. And Just Like That, however, shows sparks flying between the couple once more.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s another real-life story. I know so many women in their 50s or 60s, even 70s who got back in touch with an ex and it worked,\u201d Bushnell said of the decision to bring back Aidan. \u201cSo you never know. It\u2019s a pretty common thing<\/a>. That\u2019s something that happens in real life. So I think it\u2019s interesting.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Bushnell noted that it\u2019s the thrill of an unknown future that makes dating so fun.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019ll go out with a 21-year-old and a 91-year-old<\/a>,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018I don\u2019t know, nobody knows.\u2019 I\u2019m divorced, so I don\u2019t have all the answers. [But] that\u2019s kind of [my] attitude toward dating. That you never know.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In addition to enjoying her single status, Bushnell is focused on work \u2014 including her one-woman show,<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>True Tales of Sex, Success and Sex and the City<\/em>. The project was bred from the COVID-19 pandemic and features a whirlwind of remarkable personal stories of fashion, literature and sex \u2014 and features plenty of stories and games surrounding SATC<\/em>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a super fun game called Real or Not Real because everything that happened in the TV show\u00a0is a little better or worse than my real life,\u201d she told\u00a0Us. \u201cLike some of the guys who Carrie dates \u2026 I tell the story of how I came to New York and\u00a0crazy things that happened to me. \u2026\u00a0And then how I created Sex in the City, how hard I worked to get there, why I invented Carrie Bradshaw and what happened to me afterward.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n True Tales of Sex, Success and Sex and the City\u00a0<\/em>will take place at Canoe Place\u00a0in Hampton Bays, New York, on Thursday, August 17,\u00a0at 8:00 p.m. ET.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n Candace Bushnell.<\/span> Gregory Pace\/Shutterstock<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n