‘Sex and the City’: Carrie Bradshaw’s Dramatic Breakups Ranked
Carrie Bradshaw spent six seasons dating in New York City in Sex and the City. With dating comes breakups, but not all splits are created equally. Some were muted and simply sad, others were dramatic and deeply traumatizing, and others were completely ridiculous. We’ve collected Carrie Bradshaw’s breakups and ranked them for your consideration.
Carrie Bradshaw’s second breakup with Mr. Big was the most dramatic
Carrie and Mr. Big were not strangers to drama. Sex and the City fans watched them navigate the highest of highs and the lowest of lows together. Their first breakup was pretty quiet by the couple’s standards. Their second breakup, in season 2 of Sex and the City, was probably Carrie Bradshaw’s most dramatic breakup.
During the second incarnation of their relationship, Carrie thought she was making serious progress with the commitment-phobic Mr. Big. When she learned he’d be heading to Paris for work, perhaps for a year, she was willing to travel to be with him. When he revealed that he didn’t want her to move to Paris just for him, she flipped out and threw McDonald’s all over his kitchen. They said goodbye when Mr. Big showed up at her apartment for one last night together. In the light of the early morning, Carrie revealed she wouldn’t be going with him to Paris as he lay in her bed. Their earlier fight was dramatic, but her resignation in their final moment together felt especially palpable.
Aidan Shaw and Carrie Bradshaw’s breakups were the most muted and sad
Aidan Shaw was the most emotionally adept man Carrie dated. He wanted to make room for Carrie in his life, he didn’t play games, and he was almost always honest about his feelings. When he didn’t want to have sex with Carrie right away, he told her why. He told her when he hated Mr. Big’s presence in her life, too. While Aidan did show some toxic traits as his relationship with Carrie progressed, he was still the most mature of her partners.
Expectedly, Carrie and Aidan’s breakups were the most muted but also, in some ways, the saddest. When Carrie and Aidan ended their relationship after Carrie’s affair with Mr. Big, he didn’t make too much of a scene; he simply dropped off Charlotte York and Trey MacDougal’s wedding gift and explained he couldn’t continue as her partner. In season 4, when Carrie made it clear she wouldn’t marry him, he bowed out gracefully. He even fixed the toilet in her apartment before he left. Aidan’s good nature, and Carrie’s obvious dismay over the fact that she couldn’t make herself want Aidan the way he wanted her, felt especially sad.
Jack Berger wins the award for the worst ‘Sex and the City’ breakup
By the final season of Sex and the City, Carrie seemed desperate to make a relationship work, even if it meant she had to force it. Jack Berger seemed good for Carrie on paper. Still, it became obvious fairly quickly that Carrie and Berger had almost no sexual chemistry and that he was a bit too insecure for the incredibly dynamic sex columnist.
If we are being honest, there were a lot of moments in Carrie and Berger’s relationship that were awkward and awful, but nothing was as bad as their breakup. Instead of having an adult conversation, Berger slinked out of Carrie’s apartment without telling her, leaving only a Post-It note behind to explain himself. Berger was irritating in many ways, but his final act was perhaps the most cowardly thing we saw on Sex and the City. Berger will forever be the one Carrie Bradshaw breakup that we cringe at the thought of.
