Fans of “Sex and the City” would love nothing more than to see Carrie Bradshaw and Mr. Big live happily ever after. And in the beginning of the new movie, as Sarah Jessica Parker’s alter ego preps for a prance down the aisle with Big, it seems that just might happen.
But while her Prince Charming may be loaded, Carrie’s collected quite a few assets herself since the start of the HBO series.
Cue the column question: Can two wealthy, powerful New Yorkers get hitched without a prenup? No way!
Call us overprotective, but we’ve hashed out Carrie’s assets to see what she should safeguard from the Bigster in the event of a split.
“The purpose of a prenup is to make the fight about finances less combative and maybe even avoid it at the time of a divorce,” says matrimonial lawyer Sheila Riesel. “In theory, the prenup is going to take care of the financial resolution of your marriage.”
Carrie’s hubby-to-be comes with Big bucks. But be warned: just because the financier/entrepreneur has full pockets doesn’t mean he’ll keep his paws off Carrie’s assets if they file for divorce.
Money that Carrie makes during the marriage will be considered a “marital asset,” arguably the property of both partners. In Carrie’s case, this means royalties from the three books that may have already netted her around $1 million, as estimated by Mary Ellen O’Neill, publisher of Collins Living, the imprint that produced the “Sex and the City: The Movie” book.
That’s right, Carrie is an author millionaire. “In the world of book publishing that’s a rare and lovely thing, and it would probably make her a little bit shy of David Sedaris,” says O’Neill, “but she would be way up there.”
Carrie’s status could mean an advance in the range of $3 million for her next string of books. And what if a movie studio wants to buy the rights?
“Mr. Big would have an entitlement to both the proceeds from the books and the movie rights that are developed during the marriage for the books she previously wrote,” says Riesel, “even though he’s wealthy in his own right.”
Carrie’s pieces for Vogue may only net her shoe money, but her exposure in the mag sells more books.
Then there’s her legendary living space, the fictional brownstone at 245 E. 75th St. Under New York law, Carrie’s property is her own with or without a prenup, but if she hangs onto it, the rules can get tricky when it comes to appreciation of the property during her marriage – and it’s a primo piece of real estate.
“In this market we’re in right now it would be in the $1 million to $2 million range,” says Barrie Mandel, senior vice president at Corcoran. “That would be for something like an 800-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bath, maybe a fireplace working or not working, second or third floor, beautiful stoop, beautiful detail, west of Second, east of Park.”
Finally, there’s Carrie’s shoe collection. At the end of the series she had enough pairs to value her Zapato zoo at around $40,000. In the four years since, as Carrie’s paychecks have increased, one can only assume her collection has tripled in value.
Okay, so Mr. Big probably wouldn’t come after the Manolos, but there’s one final reason a prenup could (or should) be in the cards. Consider, says Riesel, that Carrie might, in the end, be mom material.
“One of the things that people often do in prenups, particularly if they each are people of financial means, is waive support,” Riesel says. “Of course, he’ll have a financial obligation to the child, that goes without saying, but if she has to give up her career to take care of the baby, shouldn’t he pay for her as well?”
If Carrie is accustomed to living large, the answer is yes. And she is. Or, at least, she’s accustomed to living Big.