26 Years of ‘Sex and the City’
It was 26 years ago today that we first met one of the biggest pop culture characters of the 21st century!
“Sex and the City” debuted on HBO on June 6, 1998, introducing us to Carrie Bradshaw, her Manolo Blahniks, and her three friends Charlotte, Samantha, and Miranda! The show starred Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, and Cynthia Nixon.
The show was wildly popular for the next six seasons. Set in New York City, we followed the women’s love lives and friendships while looking completely fabulous!
All six seasons are now on Netflix, so a new generation of women are watching the ladies’ lives unfold. There’s the new show, “And Just Like That,” which follows Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda as they navigate their 50s. There are also two feature films, “Sex and the City” and “Sex and the City 2,” plus a prequel series that aired on the CW titled “The Carrie Diaries.”
To celebrate the original series’ popularity and its 26th anniversary, here are Five Fast Facts About Carrie Bradshaw You Need To Know – whether you’re a first-time watcher or revisiting the series!
Carrie’s Background
When season one starts, Carrie Bradshaw is 32 years old. By season six, she’s 38. In the reboot “And Just Like That,” Carrie is 55. She writes a fictional column for The New York Star called “Sex and the City.” By the second film, Carrie had also written five books: “Sex and the City,” “Menhattan,” “A Single Life,” “Love Letters,” and “I Do! Do I?”
Carrie’s Boyfriends
Carrie Bradshaw dated 28 men over six seasons of the show. Three of them stuck around to be long-term boyfriends. Aidan Shaw (John Corbett), Aleksandr Petrovsky (Mikhail Baryshnikov), and Mr. Big (Chris Noth).
Carrie’s Home
She lived in a pretty spacious studio apartment with the address of 245 E 73rd Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The brownstone shown on the show is actually located at West Village at 66 Perry Street. Carrie paid $700 per month thanks to rent control. Today, the same apartment would cost about $3,000 per month!
Carrie’s Drink
Carrie’s cocktail is a Cosmopolitan, made with vodka, cranberry juice, Cointreau, and lime. It was invented at The Odeon restaurant in New York in the 1980s.
Carrie’s Clothes
Carrie loves to shop at Bergdorf Goodman. Carrie loves designer clothes. Carrie really, really loves Manolo Blahnik shoes, which today can cost around $500-$1,000 a pair. If you’re watching and wondering how Carrie has the money for this extravagant lifestyle, you’re not alone! The character Carrie is based on real-life author Candace Bushnell, who wrote a column for The New York Observer. Bushnell told the New Yorker in 2022 that she was paid $5,000 a month to write her column, so if she paid $700 a month for rent, she would have money left over to pay for brunch, beverages, and beautiful clothes!
