Significant others of Carrie Bradshaw Mr. Big John James "Mr. Big" Preston (
Chris Noth) is Carrie's central relationship. They first meet in season one but then have a nasty break up because he doesn't say what she wants to hear ('You're the one'). In season two they start to date again but it, again, ends badly due to Mr. Big moving to Paris with work and not telling Carrie until a few days prior. When Big returns, Carrie discovers that, whilst in Paris, he got engaged to a 25-year-old woman named Natasha, whom he later married. In season 3 she meets
Aidan Shaw who she cheats on with Big while he is still with Natasha. They broke up when Natasha fell chasing Carrie and hurt her mouth. Two years later Big moved to Napa but called Carrie from time to time. Six years after they first met, Carrie was in Paris with
Aleksandr Petrovsky when Big declares his love for her. He finds her in the hotel after her fight with Aleksandr and they go back to New York together. Four years later, in the first film, they became engaged and Big buys Carrie a large penthouse. At the wedding, he backs out at the last minute, leaving Carrie devastated. A couple of months later, they reconcile when she discovers romantic emails written by him that Louise, her assistant, put in a special folder. She rushed to their penthouse to find Big and they reconciled. Carrie and Big have a small, modest wedding and met her best friends for lunch afterwards. Two years later, they moved to a more modest but still luxurious apartment in the same building.
Aidan Shaw Aidan Shaw (
John Corbett) is one of Carrie's long-term boyfriends. He is a good-natured furniture designer who runs his own business, and Mr. Big's emotional opposite. At first, Carrie questions their seemingly perfect relationship, but over time accepts his sincerity. However, Aidan ends their relationship after Carrie confesses her affair with Big. They get back together six months later at Carrie's urging, eventually moving in together. When her apartment building goes co-op, he buys her apartment and the adjoining apartment to combine them into a single shared home. When Carrie finds an
engagement ring among Aidan's belongings, she does not like the design and throws up at the prospect of marriage. When Aidan proposes, Carrie is shocked to see a completely different ring. As it turns out, Samantha helped Aidan choose a more beautiful, appealing ring, much to Carrie's delight. Despite her initial misgivings, she accepts his marriage proposal. Carrie then becomes panicked and feels suffocated by the relationship, and Aidan realizes he still does not fully trust Carrie, given her past affair with Big, and they break up for good. A year later, they met on the street, right before her date with a new flame, Jack Berger. It is revealed that Aidan has married Kathy, a fellow furniture designer, and has a son, Tate. In
Sex and the City 2, six years later, Carrie runs into Aidan in Abu Dhabi at a market where he is buying samples for his furniture company. They resolve to meet for dinner to catch up. Aidan reveals that he and Kathy are still happily married. In a moment of passion, they kiss. Carrie stops herself and runs away. In
And Just Like That..., Carrie learns that Aidan lives in Virginia and has divorced Kathy. Carrie contacts Aidan, and he travels to New York City, and they begin dating again. He refuses to enter Carrie's apartment because it rekindles memories of their previous failed relationship and his attempt to turn it into a shared home. Carrie sells her apartment and purchases a townhouse in
Gramercy Park to host Aidan and his sons when they visit New York, but after one of Aidan's sons injures himself in a car accident after a fight with Kathy, he tells Carrie he needs to return to Virginia to be there for his sons during their teenage years, but tells her they'll start dating again in five years.
Jack Berger Jack Berger (
Ron Livingston) is Carrie's intellectual counterpart, a sardonic humorist writer. Hailing from Downer's Grove, Carrie first meets him when he walks into a meeting between her and her publisher. Berger's advice to Miranda when she questions the lack of a phone call after a first date, "He's just not that into you," became a pop culture catchphrase. Berger's and Carrie's relationship is then strained by their career issues; a book deal of his falls through just as her columns are being published as worldwide success in book form. He memorably breaks up with her on a Post-It: "I'm Sorry. I Can't. Don't Hate Me—". They never met again.
Aleksandr Petrovsky Aleksandr Petrovsky (
Mikhail Baryshnikov), referred to by Carrie occasionally as "The Russian" or "My Lover" is a famous and divorced conceptual artist who becomes Carrie's lover in the final season. He sweeps her off her feet with huge, romantic gestures, beautiful gifts and shows her the foreign pockets of New York that she has never seen before. Her relationship with him brings up all sorts of questions in Carrie's mind about finding love past "a certain age" and whether or not she wants to settle down as a family woman. When he's preparing to return to Paris for a solo exhibit he invites Carrie to come live with him, which, after several deliberations (and one fight) with her friends, she does. While in Paris, Carrie does much sightseeing alone and starts to feel the loneliness of Petrovsky's neglect. After spending so much time on her own, she realizes that he will never reciprocate the level of emotional involvement that she offers because his career will always come first. They break up after he accidentally slaps her in the face. She comes back to New York with Big who went to find her after her friends encouraged him to "go get our girl". Casting Baryshnikov as Petrovsky was noteworthy because in real life,
Candace Bushnell, the author on whom Bradshaw is based, married real-life ballet dancer Charles Askegard of the
New York City Ballet.
Significant others of Samantha Jones James James (
James Goodwin) is a man Samantha meets while out by herself at a
jazz club. She makes a conscious effort to not sleep with him until she gets to know him first. When they finally do have sex, she discovers that he is
under-endowed to the point that she cannot enjoy herself (his fully erect penis is three inches long). She begins pulling it physically and cannot bring herself to tell him—until she is faced with the prospect of couples counseling.
Maria Diega Reyes Maria Diega Reyes (
Sônia Braga) is a Brazilian sensual artist that Samantha meets at a solo exhibit while admiring her work. Maria is immediately attracted to her, but since Samantha doesn't believe in relationships, they try to maintain a friendship. The chemistry proves to be too strong and it isn't too long before Samantha is introducing her lesbian lover to her stunned friends. At first, Samantha has a great time "getting an education" as Maria teaches her about lesbian sex and how to make an emotional connection while making love. Samantha begins to grow uncomfortable when the relationship talk starts to replace the sexual activity and Maria is equally uncomfortable with Samantha's sexual history, and they separate.
Richard Wright Richard Wright (
James Remar) is a successful hotel magnate who doesn't believe in monogamy until he meets Samantha. He seduces her, and when their no-strings-attached sexual relationship begins to escalate, both parties struggle to keep their emotional distance. Eventually, they give in and attempt exclusivity, but Samantha becomes suspicious that he is cheating on her. When she does catch him cheating, after putting on a wig and spying on him, she breaks up with him, but eventually takes him back after he begs for her forgiveness. In the end, Samantha still has her doubts about his fidelity, and she breaks up with him, saying "I love you Richard, but I love me more." Towards the end of the series, Richard re-surfaces, admitting that Samantha was the best thing that ever happened to him. But after having sex with him again, she realizes how empty his emotions are and she rejects him for Smith Jerrod.
Jerry "Smith" Jerrod Jerry "Smith" Jerrod (
Jason Lewis) is a young waiter Samantha seduces in a trendy restaurant called "Raw." She tries to maintain her usual sex-only relationship with him, but he slowly pushes for something more. He is a wannabe actor whose career Samantha jump starts using her PR connections (including changing his name from "Jerry Jerrod" to "Smith Jerrod"), getting him a modeling job that turns into a film role. Just when she thinks Smith's age and experiences aren't enough for her, he gives her unconditional support during her fight with breast cancer. In the final episode, Smith flies back from a film set in Canada just to tell her that he loves her, which she counters with "You have meant more to me than any man I've ever known," which, for Samantha, is a far greater statement. In the first
Sex and the City movie, she breaks up with him in the end after having relocated her business to LA but missing New York City and Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte. In the second he invites her to be his date to the opening of his new action flick, showing that they remain on good terms.
Significant others of Charlotte York Trey MacDougal Dr. Trey MacDougal (
Kyle MacLachlan) is the archetype of Charlotte's knight in shining armor fantasy. The two met when Trey's cab screeched to a stop in the street to avoid hitting her as she was fleeing a bad date. It was a fairytale beginning; Charlotte was a damsel in distress, he, a knight in a yellow cab. Trey is a Park Avenue cardiologist with blue blood and deep brown eyes. With his pedigree comes social status, a country house and wealth. With his chiseled chin, his perfectly coiffed hair, and his exceptional manners, he is the perfect model of what Charlotte looks for in a husband. However, she finds the reality of their life together to be quite different. While on the surface, Trey seems Charlotte's perfect match, behind closed doors the couple faces some real-life problems: Trey is impotent, and his overbearing mother, Bunny (
Frances Sternhagen), tries to maintain her power over Trey and drive a wedge between the married couple. They try to work things out and do succeed in conquering his sexual dysfunction. But when they start to have problems conceiving, Trey becomes overwhelmed. On the day when Charlotte succeeds in projecting the ultimate marital bliss—a photo spread in a magazine featuring her Park Avenue apartment—she and Trey split up and he moves back in with his mother.
Harry Goldenblatt Harry Goldenblatt (
Evan Handler) is Charlotte's divorce lawyer and second love, once divorced, helping bring an end to her marriage to Trey. When beginning divorce proceedings, she found herself unable to be cold-blooded and severe around her extremely attractive lawyer. She asks to switch to a different lawyer in the same firm: Harry Goldenblatt, the antithesis of what she seeks in a man. He was bald, pudgy, messy, sweaty, crude, had poor manners, and had an excess of body hair. But in time, Harry becomes very attracted to Charlotte and seduces her. She declared it "the best sex of my life" and began what she thought to be a meaningless sexual affair with him. However, she began falling for him. Initially, she tried to change him to suit her image of what a man should be, but ultimately she accepted him as he is. After he appreciated her sacrifice for him—converting to Judaism and giving up her dream of being married with him, just to be together—he proposed to her and the two were married. After that, they made an effort to adopt a baby. Finally, they adopt a baby girl from China, naming her Lily. Four years later, in the first film, Harry and Charlotte finally conceive a child naturally. Charlotte gives birth to daughter Rose, with Harry proclaiming, "now we have a Lily and a Rose." Two years later, in the second film, Harry and Charlotte are still in love and happy. They hire an attractive Irish nanny named Erin (
Alice Eve). Charlotte begins to worry that Harry will be tempted to cheat on her. Harry has no interest in Erin, and it turns out that she is a lesbian. In
And Just Like That... the couple is still happily married, though dealing with various family challenges, including Charlotte going back to work and Harry having to help out at home.
Significant others of Miranda Hobbes Skipper Johnston Skipper Johnston (
Ben Weber) is a geeky, sensitive twenty-something web designer whom Carrie introduces to Miranda. From the moment they meet, Skipper is enamored with Miranda, but Miranda is unimpressed and irritated with him, calling him "Skippy". They date for a short time, before Miranda breaks up with him due to their "being in different places".
Steve Brady Introduced in the second season, Steve Brady (
David Eigenberg) is a bartender who has an unconventional on-again, off-again relationship with Miranda Hobbes throughout the remainder of the series. He befriends the former boyfriend of Carrie,
Aidan Shaw, and accidentally becomes the father of Miranda's baby boy, Brady Hobbes (Joseph Pupo). They decide to get married in one of the parks in the City after Miranda broke up with Dr
Robert Leeds and both moved out from Manhattan to Brooklyn, in New York. Steve repaired a whole house by himself. His mother, Mary Brady (
Anne Meara) moved in with them, when she was diagnosed with
Alzheimer's disease. In
the first movie, they have marriage problems which leads Steve to cheat on Miranda with another woman. He admits his affair to her, and she moves out temporarily to the former Ukrainian part of the city. For a couple of months, the couple live separately and Miranda couldn't stand seeing him. Convinced by her friends, and then Steve, they went to the see a marriage therapist (
Joanna Gleason) and they both decided to overcome their crisis by reconciling halfway across the Brooklyn Bridge, which then leads to them having passionate sex in their apartment in Brooklyn. In
the second film, two years later, they seem to be happy. Miranda, frustrated by her lack of work-life balance and feeling underappreciated at her job decides to quit and spend more time with her family. In the sequel series
And Just Like That..., Steve is suffering from hearing loss and his and Miranda's sex life has once again cooled. Miranda has an affair with comedian Che Diaz and ends things with Steve, leaving him heartbroken and confused. Steve finally moved on and opened his own place in
Coney Island. Steve and Miranda find a mature and amicable solution to their relationship and become close friends and supportive parents.
Robert Leeds Dr. Robert Leeds (
Blair Underwood) is a sports medicine doctor who moves into Miranda's building during season six. He is the seemingly perfect man: successful, sexy, attentive to Brady, and utterly devoted to her. Robert and Miranda have fun and great chemistry, but when the time comes she is unable to declare her love for him, in part because she still loves Steve. Since he still lived in the same building as Miranda, she and Steve moved to Brooklyn.
Che Diaz Che Diaz (
Sara Ramirez) is introduced in
And Just Like That. Che is a Mexican-Irish-American
non-binary comedian who hosts a sex and relationship podcast, which Carrie appears on. Subsequently, the two begin a relationship. In the second series, their semibiographical TV series "Che Pasa" is greenlit and begins filming in Los Angeles. ==Recurring characters==