‘Sex and the City’ author brings stories from the Big Apple to Orange County
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Candace Bushnell knows good sex.
As the real-life Carrie Bradshaw, the famed writer also knows about relationships, how to build a successful career and so much more. This month, the “Sex in the City” author will share her hard-earned wisdom at Costa Mesa’s South Coast Repertory in her one-woman show, “Candace Bushnell: True Tales of Sex, Success and Sex and the City.”
“It’s the origin story of ‘Sex and the City’ mixed with my life story,” Bushnell explained in a phone interview with the Daily Pilot. “Why I invented Carrie Bradshaw and what happened to me afterwards. And then I tell the story of the real Mr. Big.”
“Sex and the City” 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’s alter ego to the world.
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. “Sex and the City” is a force in popular culture, credited with shifting attitudes about women and sex as often as it’s accused of popularizing the cosmopolitan cocktail.
Bushnell, who had been working professionally in journalism since the age of 19, said getting that first book optioned for a television show didn’t really change things for her.
“My life did not change with ‘Sex and the City.’ I was already known in New York. I was already going out in New York, that’s how I wrote the column,” Bushnell said. “Did I have a whole bunch of movie star friends? No!”
It wasn’t until the book deal that came after her best-selling book — a collection of four novellas titled “4 Blondes” — that her future started to look a little different.
“I got a call after ‘4 Blondes’ was published and on the bestseller list, offering me a two-book deal for $1 million,” said Bushnell. “That was when my life really changed.”
Bushnell is also the author of best-selling novels “Trading Up,” “Lipstick Jungle,” “One Fifth Avenue,” “The Carrie Diaries” and “Summer and the City.”
brings her one-woman show to South Coast Repertory.
Along with the stories about her career, Bushnell’s 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’s life.
“There is a game of real or not real, because so many [stories] that happened in the TV show happened in my real life,” Bushnell said. “And they are better — or worse.”
Like the Season 3 episode titled “Politically Erect,” in which Carrie Bradshaw dates a politician played by the handsome, silver-maned John Slattery.
“I did date a senator,” Bushnell said. “But he was short and bald.”
However, there are some life events Bushnell decided to leave out.
“There were some elements, like when my mother died, maybe a couple of other elements, that ended up getting cut for different reasons,” she said.
Bushnell shaped her solo show at Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Penn., where it premiered in 2021, titled “Is There Still Sex in the City?” after her 2019 book of the same name.
The show made its New York City stage debut in 2022, and Bushnell recently wrapped a European tour of the current version, performing it in Paris.
The production originally included many costume changes, but taking it on the road required Bushnell and her team to edit it down to three or four large suitcases. Despite the trim, audiences can still look forward to seeing some real Carrie Bradshaw fashion.
“A lot of my shoes are on stage, I would say a lot of my ex-shoes,” said Bushnell.
While the Carrie Bradshaw television character famously spent $40,000 on a footware collection, the most valuable thing Bushnell’s solo show has to offer isn’t designer shoes, but sage advice.
“I have little dating advice things in the one-woman show that are all these observations,” she said. “Number seven is, you can’t rely on a relationship for your happiness or a roof over your head.”
To aspiring writers, she advises not to pursue the career unless you “feel like you are going to die if you don’t do it.
“If you can do something else, do something else. It can be personally rewarding, but you have to find that validation inside,” said Bushnell.
Having a column that gets turned into a book and then a hit television show isn’t a typical trajectory for a writer, and Bushnell maintains that it was her passion that sustained her through the lean years.
“I dedicated my whole life to being a writer, I was never going to do anything else,” she said. “I really felt that passionately… I think if you are going to be in a creative profession, you pretty much have to feel that way.”
“Candace Bushnell: True Tales of Sex, Success and Sex and the City” is being presented at South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, May 30 and May 31. Tickets, which start at $85, are available at scr.org.
