\u201cIt\u2019s the origin story of \u2018Sex and the City\u2019 mixed with my life story,\u201d Bushnell explained in a phone interview with the Daily Pilot. \u201cWhy I invented Carrie Bradshaw and what happened to me afterwards. And then I tell the story of the real Mr. Big.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSex and the City\u201d began as a column in the New York Observer in 1994. Then the column became a book, which was eventually developed into the hit HBO series that introduced Bushnell\u2019s alter ego to the world.<\/p>\n
For the first two seasons, Bushnell worked on the popular show that made both Carrie Bradshaw and Sarah Jessica Parker, the actress who portrayed her, household names. \u201cSex and the City\u201d is a force in popular culture, credited with shifting attitudes about women and sex as often as it\u2019s accused of popularizing the cosmopolitan cocktail.<\/p>\n
Bushnell, who had been working professionally in journalism since the age of 19, said getting that first book optioned for a television show didn\u2019t really change things for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy life did not change with \u2018Sex and the City.\u2019 I was already known in New York. I was already going out in New York, that\u2019s how I wrote the column,\u201d Bushnell said. \u201cDid I have a whole bunch of movie star friends? No!\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t until the book deal that came after her best-selling book \u2014 a collection of four novellas titled \u201c4 Blondes\u201d \u2014 that her future started to look a little different.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got a call after \u20184 Blondes\u2019 was published and on the bestseller list, offering me a two-book deal for $1 million,\u201d said Bushnell. \u201cThat was when my life really changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bushnell is also the author of best-selling novels \u201cTrading Up,\u201d \u201cLipstick Jungle,\u201d \u201cOne Fifth Avenue,\u201d \u201cThe Carrie Diaries\u201d and \u201cSummer and the City.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\""Sex](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778721248_680_.jpeg\")
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\u201cSex in the City\u201d creator Candace Bushnell
brings her one-woman show to South Coast Repertory. <\/p>\n
(Courtesy of South Coast Repertory)<\/p>\n
Along with the stories about her career, Bushnell\u2019s solo show features juicy tales about dating in New York City and going to hot hangouts like Studio 54 and Bowery Bar. Fans might recognize some of her stories form the plotlines of early episodes of the television show, which were inspired directly from the author\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a game of real or not real, because so many [stories] that happened in the TV show happened in my real life,\u201d Bushnell said. \u201cAnd they are better \u2014 or worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like the Season 3 episode titled \u201cPolitically Erect,\u201d in which Carrie Bradshaw dates a politician played by the handsome, silver-maned John Slattery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did date a senator,\u201d Bushnell said. \u201cBut he was short and bald.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, there are some life events Bushnell decided to leave out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were some elements, like when my mother died, maybe a couple of other elements, that ended up getting cut for different reasons,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
![\"Candace](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778721248_885_.jpeg\")
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