All About Carrie Bradshaw's Boyfriends onSex and the City— and Who She Might End Up With!

Mar. 15, 2025

As the heroine of HBO’s iconic seriesSex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw’s love life is far from dull.

The 30-something Manhattanite’s weekly column chronicled her adventures in the search for romance, imparting plenty of life lessons along the way. “I’m looking for love.Reallove,”Sarah Jessica Parkerproclaimed in the role.

But, she didn’t find it easily — the storylines of most of Carrie’s boyfriends didn’t extend beyond a single episode. After all, as the fictional writer famously said, “Some women aren’t meant to be tamed.”

Fans were particularly excited to seeAidan’s returnto Carrie’s life after theshocking deathof her fictional husband, Mr. Big.

From the early flings to her long-lasting connections, here’s a look back at Carrie Bradshaw’s dating history.

Jeremy

David Duchovny as Jeremy in ‘Sex and the City’.HBO

HBO

Long before she met Mr. Big or Aidan, Carrie was making out with Jeremy (David Duchovny) in front of her high school locker. “We were in a lip lock for most of 1982,” Jeremy once joked.

Though the pair were hot and heavy, with Jeremy promising that he’d always love Carrie in her yearbook, she eventually broke it off. “I thought, come on, there must be better guys out there — turns out, there aren’t!” she later lamented.

Jeremy moved to Denver and got married, but the former high school sweethearts reconnected after his divorce.

In season 6, Carrie’s friends were initially enthusiastic about their potential (“You’re marrying him!” Charlotte proclaimed), but their zealousness faded when Jeremy revealed he was in a therapeutic community to try to figure out why some things seemed to be harder for him than they were for other people.

Carrie commended him for seeking help, even visiting him at his facility, but they ultimately decided that they were in very different places in their lives and called it quits.

John “Mr. Big” Preston

Chris Noth as Mr.Big and Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in ‘Sex and the City’.HBO / Courtesy: Everett

HBO / Courtesy: Everett

Carrie and Big slept together on their first real date, kicking off what would turn out to be a lifelong love affair. It wasn’t without its bumps: They broke up after roughly a year when Big told her that she was not the one for him. Months later, however, their romance was rekindled when he sent Carrie flowers for her birthday.

While Big seemed more committed the second time around, even confessing his love for the columnist, she was left heartbroken and single once more after learning that he made plans to move to Paris for a year without her.

Although he didn’t find business success in Paris, he did meet someone else — a 20-something named Natasha to whom he got engaged, and later married. Carrie tried to move on with her new love Aidan, but she and Big couldn’t stay away from each other and started an affair that ruined both of their relationships.

The pair remained friendly but distant in the wake of their scandal. Big moved to Napa, California, and Carrie pursued other romantic interests, moving to France with her boyfriend Aleksandr Petrovsky. Big followed her overseas to tell her she was the one but broke her heart for a third time on their wedding day when he failed to meet her at the altar.

Eventually, they found each other once more and had their happy ending: Carrie and Big tied the knot in an intimate courthouse wedding and lived together as husband and wife for 11 years before his untimely death.

Aidan Shaw

John Corbett as Aidan Shaw and Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in ‘Sex and the City’.HBO/ Courtesy: Everett

HBO/ Courtesy: Everett

Aidan Shaw came into Carrie’s life at a complicated time, when she was still reeling from the news of Mr. Big’s engagement. The furniture designer and the columnist had a flirtatious exchange when they first met in his store.

The pair faced a series of roadblocks early on in their partnership. She was shy about the speed at which things were moving and began sleeping with Big behind Aidan’s back. When their affair was revealed, she and Aidan went their separate ways.

The pair got back together, but struggled to overcome trust issues and their differences in lifestyle: Aidan loved the country life while Carrie was committed to the big city.

Aidan moved on with a fellow furniture designer named Kathy, with whom he had three sons.

In the secondSex and the Citymovie, he and Carrie shared a steamy kiss upon running into each other on vacation in Dubai, but nothing came of their transgression, which she later confessed to her husband Big.

Years later, after Aidan divorced his wife and Mr. Big had died, the couple tried their hand at love once more, until Aidan decided he couldn’t spend so much time away from his sons. The season 2 finale ofAnd Just Like That… left the couple’s future uncertain as Aidan said he needed at least five years away from the city to allow for his youngest child to grow up.

Ben

Ian Kahn as Ben in ‘Sex and the City’.HBO

Their biggest relationship milestone came when they set Miranda up with Ben’s friend, Luke, for a double date. “Nothing makes you feel like more of a … couple than creating another … couple,” Carrie mused of her new beau.

It turned out to be their downfall: Concerned that Luke’s uncouth behavior toward Miranda might be a reflection of her boyfriend’s own red flags, Carrie committed the cardinal dating sin of going through her boyfriend’s things. When he caught her red-handed, he pulled the plug on their romance.

Vaughn Wysel

Justin Theroux as Vaughn Wysel and Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in ‘Sex and the City’.HBO

Carrie and fellow writer Vaughn Wysel (Justin Theroux) first crossed paths at a PEN America luncheon. After a month of dating, Vaughn took her home to meet his family, whom she got on with famously. “The thing I like best about him is his family,” she told Samatha. “They’ve got charisma!”

Unfortunately, Carrie wasn’t as compatible with Vaughn sexually, and the couple threw in the towel on their relationship.

Patrick Casey

Richard Joseph Paul as Patrick Casey in ‘Sex and the City’.HBO

Richard Joseph Paul played Patrick, a movie composer and a recovering alcoholic. He and Carrie didn’t exactly have a meet-cute: Patrick was smoking in a doorway and flicked his cigarette into her path as she was walking down the street, hitting her in the arm and burning her.

All was forgiven after a shared cappuccino, however, and the two had a week-and-half courtship that revolved heavily around sex. “I think Patrick’s addicted to me,” she told Miranda. “It’s like he replaced drinking with me.”

Though Patrick professed his love for the show’s heroine, Carrie broke it off after he relapsed, showing up to her apartment heavily intoxicated and stripping down in the street.

He reached out to make amends after recommitting to his alcohol recovery program, but Carrie never saw him again.

Bill Kelley

John Slattery as Bill Kelley in ‘Sex and the City’.HBO

All seemed to be going well, with Bill telling her that she was the first woman in a long time that he felt so intimate with. Things got a littletoointimate for Carrie, though, particularly when he asked her to urinate on him in the shower.

Carrie refused and Bill promptly broke up with her, explaining that his team thought it was a bad idea for him to date a sex columnist so close to his election for city comptroller.

Although the relationship didn’t work out, Carrie did benefit from their brief fling, writing about his bedroom interests in her column.

Wade Adams

Cane Peterson as Wade Adams in ‘Sex and the City’.HBO

Carrie met comic book store owner and budding artist Wade Adams (Cane Peterson) when he took over the shopfront her shoe repairman had previously occupied. Over the course of an episode, love seemed to be blooming for the pair amid their youthful excursions, which included pinball dates, scooter rides and splashing in kiddie pools.

Carrie even met Wade’s mom, Mrs. Adams, indulging in her homemade cookies, sharing dinners with her and chatting with her on the phone.

Her short-lived affair with Wade came to a screeching halt, though, after Mrs. Adams caught them smoking weed in her apartment. Faced with the wrath of his mother, Wade blamed the incident on Carrie, swiftly ending their evening — and their relationship.

Ray King

Craig Bierko as Ray King in ‘Sex and the City’.HBO

She quickly pumped the brakes when she realized that Ray couldn’t connect on an emotional level. “Maybe that kind of physical connection obliterates the chance of an intellectual one,” Carrie surmised.

Jack Berger

Ron Livingston as Jack Berger and Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in ‘Sex and the City’.HBO / Courtesy: Everett

Fellow writer Jack Berger (Ron Livingston) accidentally crashed a meeting with Carrie’s publisher, leading to an instant attraction between the two. “Jack wrote a hilarious comic novel that speaks to men the same way your column speaks to women,” the publisher explained. “You two should talk.”

They took her up on her suggestion, and after a sweet afternoon in the park, Carrie was crushed to learn that Jack was not only taken but that he lived with his girlfriend. “I sparked with this person. I never spark,” she said.

The two shared a brief courtship that led to love but became problematic when Jack’s career stalled as Carrie’s was taking off, causing him feelings of resentment.

His failure to get over his issues led to one of the most memorable breakups of all time: Jack left Carrie a Post-it with just seven words: “I’m sorry, I can’t. Don’t hate me."

Aleksandr Petrovsky

Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw and Mikhail Baryshnikov as Alexandr Petrovsky in ‘Sex and the City’.HBO

Franklyn Silvias

Ivan Hernandez as Franklyn Sylvias and Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in ‘And Just Like That…'.Craig Blankenhorn/MAX

Craig Blankenhorn/MAX

Franklyn Silvias (Ivan Hernandez) was a producer for Carrie’s podcast before it was canceled inAnd Just Like That…The coworkers shared a mild flirtation throughout the show and eventually indulged in a steamy elevator kiss.

From there, they fell into a routine, having regular slumber parties every week. Franklyn wanted more, but Carrie wasn’t ready to take their relationship to the next level.

source: people.com