The author's life didn't differ that much from that of her character, Carrie Bradshaw
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NEED TO KNOW
- Candace Bushnell is opening up about how close her life was to the Sex and the City character Carrie Bradshaw
- The author talks to PEOPLE about her one-woman show and her career
- What surprises audiences, she shares, is really how close her life was to Carrie’s
Candace Bushnell lived Carrie Bradshaw’s life. Or more, Carrie Bradshaw lived Cadance Bushnell’s life.
When talking to PEOPLE, the author and television producer shares that Sex and the City was modeled after her life, minus a few major changes. Similarly to the show, Bushnell also had her own Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha. She reveals stories about this in her one-woman show, Candace Bushnell: Tales of Sex, Success and Sex in the City
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“Originally Carrie Bradshaw was basically me, and that's one of the things that's a big part of the show, it’s about Sex and the City, how I created Sex in the City, how hard I worked to get there, and why I invented Carrie Bradshaw,” the author, 67, says.
The writer reveals thats she used to be a lot closer to Carrie Bradshaw, who on-screen is played by Sarah Jessica Parker. “Carrie Bradshaw is the character that it was based on me, probably closer at the beginning of the series, and then it takes on a life of its own, which is fantastic because you want that to happen,” Bushnell explains.
One of the things that surprises most audiences is how close her life was to Carrie's. However, one big difference is that ultimately, Bushnell didn’t end up with Mr. Big like Carrie did. “I didn't end up with my Mr. Big. I do tell that story about our breakup. The day that he broke up with me was the day that I got the galleys to the book, Sex and the City,” Bushnell reveals.
Like on the series when Mr. Big marries Natasha, Bushnell says her real-life Mr. Big married to someone else. But he’s been married for around 30 years and now lives in Vermont.
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“One of the things that struck me was how much my Mr. Big, he was looking to get married, and how much I was not," Bushnell recalls. "That was something that I realized when I read the book, because at the time, I thought, like, 'Oh, I just wanna be him!' But everything that I did and said made it clear that I did not. I did not want to get married and have a conventional life.”
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Despite that, her life, she shares, has a lot of “little connections” to the HBO series. “There's one character who was in the show. She was only in one episode, Amalita Amalfi, and she made me buy these amazing Manolo Blahnik boots. I wore those boots on the same night that I was reporting the first column for Sex in the City,” the author says.
Bushnell also reveals that she still has the actual boots, although they never made onto the show.
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