Actor who played Mr. Big calls Carrie Bradshaw "such a whore"

But that was totally not the point of "Sex and the City"

Published October 15, 2014 10:21PM (EDT)

     (HBO)
(HBO)

Chris Noth, who played the notorious asshole, Mr. Big on "Sex and the City" pretty much revealed that not only did he not understand Carrie -- until it was almost too late -- he also sort of missed the point of the entire show. Noth recently told an Australian news site, News.com.au, that Carrie Bradshaw was "such a whore." Here's the quote in its entirety:

"...Big was powerful because he had a lot of money and he seemed to have the upper hand in the relationship, but emotionally he was a wreck. Actually, no: he was what he was. One of the things I tell people is that he never tried to pretend he was anything other than what he was. It was [Carrie] who tried to pretend he was something he wasn't. He was always honest about himself—he never cheated on her. The relationship just didn't work, and he went on to get married while she went on to … how many boyfriends did she have? She was such a whore! [laughs]

"There's a misconception that Carrie was a victim of him, and that's not the case—she was a strong, smart woman."

Say what you will about "Sex and the City" (the show, we all agree the movies were terrible), but there is no denying that when it aired this HBO program was groundbreaking. It was not without its faults: Its lack of diversity, its portrayal of women as flighty and fashion-obsessed with unrealistic bodies, and of course it overdid the glamour of being a writer in New York City. (Good luck affording that apartment.)

But the single woman  of "SATC" were not monochromatic sad slops; they were relatable and quirky and human. And they were most definitely not "whores."

In one of my favorite pieces of television criticism ever, Emily Nussbaum wrote in the New Yorker:

"In contrast, Carrie and her friends—Miranda, Samantha, and Charlotte—were odder birds by far, jagged, aggressive, and sometimes frightening figures, like a makeup mirror lit up in neon. They were simultaneously real and abstract, emotionally complex and philosophically stylized. Women identified with them—“I’m a Carrie!”—but then became furious when they showed flaws. And, with the exception of Charlotte (Kristin Davis), men didn’t find them likable: there were endless cruel jokes about Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and Carrie as sluts, man-haters, or gold-diggers. To me, as a single woman, it felt like a definite sign of progress: since the elemental representation of single life at the time was the comic strip “Cathy” (ack! chocolate!), better that one’s life should be viewed as glamorously threatening than as sad and lonely.

And I can't help but wonder: did Chris Noth miss the entire earth-shattering liberating moment? Did he not realize that the whole point of Carrie Bradshaw was to go out and have sex...in the city? And totally own it?

The point was not that she ends up with Noth's noxious character Mr. Big, but all the struggles -- and boyfriends -- in between.


By Sarah Gray

Sarah Gray is an assistant editor at Salon, focusing on innovation. Follow @sarahhhgray or email sgray@salon.com.

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Carrie Bradshaw Chris Noth Entertainment Hbo Mr. Big Sex And The City Slut-shamimg