Top 10 Reasons Carrie Bradshaw Was the WORST

Much has been written about how truly awful Mr. Big was to Carrie throughout the series - heck, we even made a video about it. But what isn’t always acknowledged is that sometimes Carrie was just as bad. They say you shouldn’t be with someone you want to change, and this is advice that Carrie clearly doesn’t heed. She clearly can’t accept Big for who he is, and is constantly trying to mold him into the type of person she wants. She knows he is emotionally withdrawn and afraid of commitment, and yet instead of moving on or accepting his flaws, she spends years giving him ultimatums.

While friendship is touted as the central theme of “Sex and the City”, and the girls agree to be each other’s soul mates, Carrie repeatedly ignores one of the central rules of female friendships, which is not to ditch your friends for a guy. She does it countless times throughout the series, notably in season two when she stays in to eat veal with Big, leaving Miranda alone at the bar. Later on, she does it all the time when she’s dating the Russian, so much so that it concerns the girls. She even ditches Charlotte while she’s blindfolded in a department store in order to take a call from him! Get it together, Carrie!

We could go on and on about how Carrie somehow manages to stay stick thin while eating out all the time and never exercising, but let’s focus on one particular aspect of her health. We get it, “Sex and the City” took place in the ‘90s and early aughts when smoking was much more prevalent. But even when she’s asked not to smoke somewhere, Carrie flouts the rules and disregards just how inconsiderate it is to the non-smokers around her. She’s so devoted to this dirty habit that she almost misses out on dating Aidan because of it!

The women of “Sex and the City” claim to be sexually liberated, but aside from Samantha they all show dated views on female sexuality at some point throughout the series. Carrie can be extremely judgemental, even of Sam who was very understanding when Carrie admitted to her that she was cheating on Aidan. The most notable instance is when she walks in on Samantha being well...intimate, with her Worldwide Express guy. Carrie shows a surprising lack of understanding for the situation instead of just laughing it off.

After her affair with Big (which, trust us, we’ll get into later), Carrie seeks out some sort of closure with his wife Natasha. After treating her with blatant disregard throughout the time she was sleeping with her husband, Carrie expects that Natasha will be willing to speak with her so that she can lessen her guilt about the situation. Understandably, Natasha is not amenable to this, especially when Carrie basically stalks her after she refuses to meet her. The fact that she just won’t let this one slide is proof of just how selfish she can be.

"Sex and the City" has often been championed for being sexually progressive and showing many aspects of female sexuality on TV that had previously gone un-discussed. In season three though, Carrie starts dating a guy and soon finds out that he is bisexual. She is shockingly unchill about the whole thing, calling into question whether bisexuality exists at all. She even goes as far as calling bisexuality just “a layover to Gaytown”. Yeah, serious cringe. Samantha is actually the only one in the group who isn't similarly close-minded on this issue.

When Carrie and Aidan break up for the second time, Carrie is upset that he is not simply leaving her the apartment he purchased, and she is forced to come up with the money to buy it from him. Because of her frivolous lifestyle and spending habits, she doesn’t have any savings and therefore goes to her friends for help. She is somehow upset that Charlotte doesn’t offer her the money for a downpayment, despite the fact that of course Charlotte shouldn’t be expected to offer her the money for a downpayment. This sense of entitlement is hard to ignore in her character.

Aside from the obviously horrible thing that Carrie does to Aidan (which like we said, we’ll get to), she basically mistreats this wonderful guy throughout their entire relationship. It all starts with her lying and getting a discount on his furniture, then continues all the way through until she accepts his proposal even though she doesn’t actually want to marry him. Along the way, she’s a total brat about his country house, and even has the gall to bring Big there after everything that has happened. She never appreciates just how good she has it with Aidan, and of course ruins it in the end.

Carrie sure knows how to talk about herself, and after she breaks up with Big, her friends are so sick of hearing her whine about their relationship that they actually send her to therapy. But even more egregious is the fact that despite the much more serious problems that her friends are having, Carrie always manages to steer the conversation back to herself and her own issues. Probably the most memorable instance of this is when Miranda hurts her neck and Carrie shows up with bagels to cheer her up. Once she arrives though, she can’t stop talking about her problems with Aidan, and Miranda won’t let it slide.





Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few dishonorable mentions.



Her Attitude Towards Therapy

“Games People Play”







She Sent Aidan to Help Miranda

“Time and Punishment”







She Makes an Alcoholic Relapse Because She Thinks He's Cute

“Was It Good for You?”

The number one entry on our list is also the most obvious. If there’s one thing that fans truly couldn’t forgive Carrie for, it was her affair with Big. Cheating on a partner is always wrong, but Carrie somehow manages to make this situation even worse every step of the way. First of all, she cheats with the absolute worst person for her, who also happens to be married. She also continually feels sorry for herself throughout the process, rather than reflecting on how others are affected by her actions. And finally, her treatment of Aidan when they finally get back together is almost unbearable to watch.