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Natasha Preston Biography & Facts

John James Preston, commonly known as "Mr. Big" or just "Big", is a recurring character in the HBO series Sex and the City, the follow-up film of the same name and its sequel, and sequel series And Just Like That..., portrayed by Chris Noth. He is the primary on-and-off love interest and later husband of the series' protagonist, Carrie Bradshaw. Character history Newspaper column Mr. Big first appeared as a recurring character and love interest of Carrie in Candace Bushnell's column "Sex and the City" in The New York Observer. Bushnell based Mr. Big on Ron Galotti, the former publisher of GQ and Talk, whom she had dated. Bushnell told New York Magazine in 2004, "He was one of those New York guys with a big personality—you just notice him as soon as he walks in the room," and "I called him Mr. Big because he was like a big man on campus." Sex and the City pilot "Big" appears in the first episode of Sex and the City as a very attractive stranger who helps Carrie pick up the contents of her purse (notably cosmetics and condoms) after she is accidentally bumped by a stranger on the streets of Manhattan. The nickname "Big" refers to his status as a "major tycoon, major dreamboat, and majorly out of [Carrie's] league," according to the show's dialogue. (His real name is not revealed to viewers until the final episode of the series; in a running joke, whenever Carrie is about to introduce Mr. Big to another character onscreen, she is interrupted before she can say his name.) When Carrie and her friend Samantha bump into Big at a nightclub, Samantha tries to hit on him, but he tactfully declines. In the first few episodes, he and Carrie frequently bump into one another, until finally Big suggests the two of them should "bump into one another on purpose". Carrie agrees and thus begins their on-again-off-again relationship. Big calls Carrie by the nickname "Kid". When Carrie asks Big if he has ever been in love, he replies, "Ab-so-fucking-lutely". Subsequent episodes Carrie eventually falls in love with Big, despite his fear of commitment. His reserved communication on relationship issues and Carrie's coping with the ambiguity are frequent plot devices. Carrie repeatedly returns to the relationship even though he is clearly emotionally unavailable to her and unable to meet her needs. It appears Mr. Big was emotionally crippled by a series of failed relationships. He has a tendency to take major emotional steps in the relationship more slowly than Carrie, which is depicted as a result of emotional unavailability. Carrie's interpretation of Mr. Big's inner turmoil as unreachable distance often creates larger issues because of her misplaced feelings of unworthiness, and due to her propensity for not communicating truthfully until too late, results in a lot of painful misunderstandings. Carrie can be un-empathetic and often issues ultimatums (i.e. first break-up), and Big can't shed his ingrained emotional pessimism to fully embrace Carrie as a partner. They break up repeatedly, over the course of two years for those reasons, before Big marries a twenty-six-year-old socialite and Ralph Lauren employee named Natasha (Bridget Moynahan) after dating her for only five months. This hurts Carrie, as she wonders why he could take steps with Natasha that he refused to take with Carrie. It becomes obvious later that Mr. Big had simply skipped many of the important emotional steps before marriage, many of which he had definitely, if slowly, taken with Carrie. Ironically this creates the problems of distance and unavailability between Big and Natasha, which Carrie had so feared in their own relationship. Within seven months of his marriage, he begins to chafe at his matrimonial bonds and pines for Carrie; he initiates an affair with her. Carrie, who is in a committed relationship (with Aidan Shaw) at the time, feels guilty but continues to see Big. The affair continues until Natasha comes home unexpectedly and discovers Carrie fleeing—half dressed—from the marital apartment. Natasha trips and breaks her tooth while chasing after Carrie, who ends up taking Natasha to the emergency room. As a result, Carrie ends the affair. Carrie later finds out that Big and Natasha have divorced. Big and Carrie eventually become close friends. He relocates to Napa Valley, and they are able to discuss their other ongoing relationships with each other. But their sexual chemistry always remains just below the surface, and their friendship never remains strictly platonic. After reading Carrie's book, Big begins to understand how much he has hurt her, and he empathizes further when a famous actress he is dating treats him in a fashion similar to the way Big has treated Carrie: at arm's length, eschewing true intimacy. The relationship between Big and the celebrity is certainly a parallel between Carrie/Big, except that the celebrity refuses physical intimacy one-sidedly, ignoring Big's overtures except when it suits her, whereas Carrie/Big's problems were almost completely emotional and arguably two-sided. The experience ends up allowing Big to finally get past his inner pain. Big grows as an emotional being, changing and evolving as the series progresses, moving past innate pain to suit Carrie's needs better, ostensibly becoming a "better man." Big seems to have no real friends, at least in New York. He is rarely shown with other males, and when he is, they are usually credited as colleagues or acquaintances. In one scene in the first film, he is shown at a New Year's Eve party alone, eating while the celebration goes on around him, but seems to feel comfortable with the situation. Series finale The series finale, "An American Girl in Paris", ties together the loose ends of Carrie and Big's relationship and concludes their long, unconventional courtship. Absent for most of season six, Big suddenly reappears in Carrie's life near the end of the season, once again at the wrong time. At this point, Carrie has grown tired and frustrated with Big's inconsistency and angrily rebuffs him, but also realizes her behavior towards him has often pushed him away. However, Big is desperate to win Carrie back. The season finale depicts his attempt to reunite with her. The series finale takes place over two episodes in which Carrie moves to Paris with her current boyfriend, Russian artist Aleksandr Petrovsky (played by Mikhail Baryshnikov). In the first half of the finale, "An American Girl in Paris Part Une", Big shows up outside Carrie's apartment in New York after she fails to return his phone calls. She is on her way to her last dinner with the girls before departing for Paris. Big attempts to invite Carrie to dinner and drinks in order to apologize for the way he treated her, only to be turned down. Carrie explains that she is moving to Paris with a man she's in a relationship with. Big asks Carrie when she was going to tell him that she was moving to Paris, a reference to the time earlier in their relationship when.... Discover the Natasha Preston popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Natasha Preston books.