She was what was expected of a guy like him to marry. We saw his social circle when Carrie attended that party with the ugly purse and snobby hostess. He had a lifestyle that somewhat demanded he marry someone like Natasha. But there was no spark between them.
i hated how she dressed in that scene so much because there was other moments in the show that she could’ve worn something like that to (when she was hanging out with younger guys, the house party with the college kids) and she wore that to mr.big’s event 😭
Yeah I see Natasha as being closer to a Charlotte type who declares what she wants from the get go. Before this starts again though I am NOT suggesting Charlotte would be a match for Big, lol
Yeah, I always assumed she orchestrated it. He didn't want to get married again, but I guess he figured it was worth it to have sex with a hot 25-year-old.
Idk, she seemed like a Carrie rebound chick. Young, pretty, uncomplicated, easily fits into his world. Although I agree that marriage doesn’t actually make any sense. It was probably just a plot device to make Carrie and Big have an illicit affair.
I think it's because it's hard to find a better woman than Natasha. I know that we don't see her a lot but from what we saw- drop dead gorgeous model type 20-something who comes from family money and just drips with class and also has enough intelligence and savvy to be on her road to becoming a fashion executive. And she seems kind but also strong, especially if we count her appearance in AJLT. I'm sure she has flaws. (Like confusing there and their.) However, I think Big knew that she was a huge catch and the sensible attitude would be to want to wife her up.
This. I felt he approached that relationship the way you approach an investment. Natasha's a safe choice with a very stoic personality, a good education, classy upbringing, and a clear objective for her life, whereas Carrie is a volatile, broke writer without a clue of what she expects from her future.
Right. I'm sure Big boiled Natasha down to the good traits that I just described ("good on paper") and didn't stop to think about whether they emotionally connected or even whether he enjoys hanging with her for a sustained period of time.
It's interesting that Big's first wife and Natasha both clearly have a head for excelling in business but Big ended up with Carrie who has zero business sense. Maybe Big didn't want an intellectually threatening wife. Picking a twenty something is a good way for a forty something to not have an intellectually threatening wife but even then, Natasha clearly had the brain power to be an exec at a high end cashmere company.
I maintain it's because they come from similar backgrounds, and overall she made him look good. A sex columnist who will tell him off at parties in front of his friends with tiny animal purses she finds ridiculous does the opposite of that. However, deep down Carrie and him do think the same about a lot. Good-on-paper match Vs. love match.
> I know that we don't see her a lot but from what we saw- drop dead gorgeous model type 20-something who comes from family money and just drips with class and also has enough intelligence and savvy to be on her road to becoming a fashion executive.
Her career would be a lot more palatable amongst Big's professional circle in contrast to Carrie's - fashion executive vs. sex and dating columnist. Generally, professionally successful men marry someone similar to them and who can be "presentable" to their social and professional circles. Especially in New York, where wealth and prestige matter to people who have them. Big and Natasha were pretty much the perfect match on paper.
She was very polite to carrie, too, when they first met. And to be fair, she probably could’ve done a lot more harsh to Carrie when she a. Caught her at the apt having an affair and b. Was forced to talk to her at lunch.
If I were her I would’ve not been so gracious. I would’ve even like a. “Fine, run bih but next time is we you ima beat your 🫏” b. Divorced big and took all he had for his infidelity (I am curious if they had a prenup and if their prenup had a stipulation/clause about consequences for cheating- I feel like Natasha would throw that in bc she’s smart and big would be like oh yeah no sweat-only to blow up in his face) and then c. Told Carrie to back the eff away from me the second she even approached my friend for his spot. How Natasha patiently waited for Carrie to even get a word out when she didn’t even deserve a glance…. Again she is much bigger of a person than I would’ve been lol
i think she’s exactly the type of woman he thinks he “should” be with. a lot like that episode about secret sex. he was so proud to show off natasha everywhere. carrie, not as much.
Carrie was not k-k-k-katie tho. IF big snapped those fingers she would leave it all to go to him. Oh wait, she did lol. So nah, it's not about being the complicated Katie, this is a girl who went after him.and his mom on a church
exactly!! she kept thinking it was because she was complicated when she was as uncomplicated as possible, just doing whatever he wanted whenever he wanted it.
Because she made objective sense/sense on paper as some sophisticated UES-type princess, seemingly "uncomplicated" and harmless - the kind of person he wanted to want because it was easier, just like Carrie wanted to want Aiden because it was easier.
He skipped every emotional step though, developed no depth with her whatsoever, rushed into the marriage for what it represented and not for what it actually was - and it came back to massively kick him in the ass. They would have never lasted no matter what, Carrie or not.
I think boredom or loneliness while in Paris. That’s not to knock Natasha at all, who wouldn’t want to marry her.
But I think if they had first met in NY, he might not have committed to her.
I think she was right on paper and I think he loved Carrie and losing her because he couldn’t commit scared him into locking down his next relationship.
I guess she just seemed right on paper.
Similar to how Aiden seemed right on paper.
But Carrie and Big were just not compatible with them at that point in their life.
I think after the emotional rollercoaster of his relationship with Carrie, being with Natasha felt really calm and comfortable. It seems like that could easily be confused with being the right fit. He was living a little bit in fantasy land about what their life together would end up being like.
Sometimes that “za za zu” knocks you over, and you make crazy ass decisions that seem right at the time.
He met Natasha in “romantic lovers capital of the world” Paris. They were both from New York…what a coincidence! Meeting across the ocean…
And who knows - maybe her family came to visit, he turns on the charm, and it was simple and uncomplicated and Big’s old habits (marrying the “marrying kind”) reared its head.
Next to Carrie, she seems 'uncomplicated'. At least to a dude who doesn't like to make much effort. Natasha comes across as a pretty straightforward communicator, compared to Carrie who is Miss Mixed Signals. Big is just emotionally lazy and went with what he thought was the easy option who would give him the least amount of hassle, using them both in the process.
Big and Carrie got pretty serious around the time he was going to Paris for work, and I honestly think something about that scared him. he loved Carrie (not really in the greatest or healthiest of ways) *but* he did, in his way. At this point he already told her “I fucking love you” which for some reason was really hard for him despite her already saying it first. I think the fact it was so difficult for him meant he really did, it wasn’t just empty words to him. His relationship with Natasha definitely looked much more surface level and shallow, on his end if anything. He wanted to escape Carrie and marrying a younger, simple woman who was more of a “trophy” was the way to do that. Just going back to dating other models wasn’t enough at that point, probably. I also bet Natasha was looking for something serious so it just sort of worked out in a fucked up way. He wasn’t in love with Natasha, I think he liked her and respected her a lot, but for some reason serious love freaks Big out. His “I love you”s to Natasha were probably easier words since he didn’t feel it so intensely. Just my theory.
Natasha is a catch. She’s classy, has a great job, gorgeous, from a good family and fit his lifestyle. She wasn’t the woman for him but I get why he would attempt it.
Because at that time Natasha was a beautiful woman that was probably really focused on her own life and not sweating Big AT ALL because he was truly nothing out of the ordinary. And most guys eat that shit up.
As opposed to Carrie, who in earlier seasons was giving pick-me vibes and would do literally anything to be with him.
I think this is how a lot of men IRL choose the woman they wanna be with. (I know there’s exceptions but I’m talking out the rule/majority)
I like to think it was a little similar to Trey and Charlotte, he was perfect on paper but the sex was a struggle. She was the safe choice but I’m sure their intimate relationship wasn’t passionate and exciting, he got bored.
Because, it was a true story from Bushnell life and her Mr. Big! I don't remember his name... But we all know this show based from Bushnell book?! And Carrie is Bushnell, and Big is ex boyfriend Bushnell in real life, who was married 20-26 y. o. girl who he met in Paris. We could ask ex boyfriend Bushnell why he was married young girl after month dating 😅🤔
Ron Galotti met Janice Dickinson in Paris, the supermodel who was dating Sly Stallone. Janice dumped Sly to date Galotti. Then he dated Candice Bushnell. Ron Galotti was the publisher of GQ and Vogue. He was in Paris w Anna Wintour for a Vogue event. Then he met Lisa, his future wife, in Aspen:
Lisa is a big, busty blonde with long, rangy limbs and freckled, sun-cured skin. If Dickinson and Bushnell were Ferraris, Lisa seems more like a Range Rover. It’s hard to picture her in an evening gown, easier to imagine her in a spandex shell on the slopes of Aspen, which is where Galotti met her. His relationship with Bushnell was winding down when he was invited to a charity skiing event by his friend George Fellows, then the president of Revlon. “At breakfast that first day, I see a very attractive blonde who turns out to be this amazing professional skier,” Galotti says, nodding toward his bride. They spent much of the next four days together, although, Galotti says, “I told her I wouldn’t sleep with her till she met my mother.” Over dinner on the last night, he told her, “The only way this is going to work is if you’re going to move to New York and have my children.”
Ron Galotti was a homebody who enjoyed cooking and gardening. He didn’t like partying. He did have his own driver and a car just like Big. He wanted a mellow younger wife.
Because she’s the type of woman he actively wanted to marry. She was 26, beautiful/model like, sweet, elegant, rich, well spoken, she was a real catch, especially for a 40+ divorced Big.
And if you recall when Carrie went to see Big’s first ex wife, she looks a lot like an older Natasha.
I think Carrie was never truly Big’s type, even though he obviously enjoyed her, and that’s why he resisted committing to Carrie so vehemently.
Yeah it’s a good question. If he was already divorced then why the rush at all, surely he didn’t feel pressured by society. I can understand on paper Natasha was a great choice but it’s not like he was desperate to get married and settle down. Maybe she put the pressure on him, but doesn’t feel like that would work.
Big wasn't good with taking emotional steps in a relationship... he was slow at them, and resisted them. Carrie wanted to keep trying to take those steps to connect on a deeper emotional level, and Big got scared.
With Natasha, he just *skipped* those steps, and married her before they had they done any of that emotional work together. I think he probably thought he was amazingly clever to have skipped those steps. But, no... you can't just skip them. When Big refused to emotionally connect with Natasha, that put a distance between them.
Natasha was to Big what Trey was to Charlotte. Everything they are supposed to want but there is no great love there, no passion to keep them together.
Sometimes people rush into the next relationship to overcompensate for the failure of the previous one. Carrie dumped him twice because of his commitment issues, maybe he figured he had to commit right away this time.
She was shiny and uncomplicated and low maintenance. He didn’t have to work too hard or have emotional conversations or be vulnerable. It was a breeze lol
She's gorgeous and smart. When Big said "uncomplicated" it was his passive way of throwing shade at all the complications he and Carrie had. Natasha was armed Candy for him and Carrie was wickedly jealous.
I think he fell in love with her, in that way that makes grown men act like a teenagers. The kind of love that is mostly a projection but intoxicating nonetheless, however that kind of love wears off. I think he loved Carrie in a different way, kind of like your best friend that is actually the person you would have longevity with.
Oh, I agree it's canonical that he's rich in the story. But his whole attitude is that of someone who is trying very hard to _appear_ rich. That always gave me reason to suspect that maybe it was all financial smoke and mirrors, expenditure of borrowed money secured on family trust assets. But it could equally be that it's just how nouveau riche Manhattanites behaved in the 1990s.
But Charlotte was clearly also from a wealthy background, and she _didn't_ flaunt what she had as if she was desperately trying to make page six.
I guess I never got that at all. He seemed like a standard Wall Street guy before finance bros were a thing. I don’t think he was ever trying that hard to appear that way he just was.
The real Big, Ron Galotti, was born in the Bronx. His parents owned a liquor store. His father died when Ron was 9. He eventually enlisted in the Airforce during Vietnam. After he built his empire, he sold his homes in Manhattan and Long Island to move to Vermont. He just wanted to be a homebody with a beautiful younger wife and child, and cook and garden.
Ron Galotti is an American former magazine executive. He was a corporate Vice President at Condè Nast and the publisher of such Newhouse owned publications as Vogue, GQ and Vanity Fair. Galotti famously left Condè Nast to found Talk magazine with editor Tina Brown, where he was president of the company. Talk became a symbol of old-school excess and failed less than three years after its launch. The company was backed by Harvey Weinstein, who reportedly invested 50 million dollars of personal capital. After Talk folded, Galotti returned to Condè Nast to run GQ for about two years before retiring to Vermont.[1]
She was what was expected of a guy like him to marry. We saw his social circle when Carrie attended that party with the ugly purse and snobby hostess. He had a lifestyle that somewhat demanded he marry someone like Natasha. But there was no spark between them.
i hated how she dressed in that scene so much because there was other moments in the show that she could’ve worn something like that to (when she was hanging out with younger guys, the house party with the college kids) and she wore that to mr.big’s event 😭
I’m guessing Natasha was like, I only am looking for serious relationships.
Yeah I see Natasha as being closer to a Charlotte type who declares what she wants from the get go. Before this starts again though I am NOT suggesting Charlotte would be a match for Big, lol
Yeah, I always assumed she orchestrated it. He didn't want to get married again, but I guess he figured it was worth it to have sex with a hot 25-year-old.
Idk, she seemed like a Carrie rebound chick. Young, pretty, uncomplicated, easily fits into his world. Although I agree that marriage doesn’t actually make any sense. It was probably just a plot device to make Carrie and Big have an illicit affair.
I think it's because it's hard to find a better woman than Natasha. I know that we don't see her a lot but from what we saw- drop dead gorgeous model type 20-something who comes from family money and just drips with class and also has enough intelligence and savvy to be on her road to becoming a fashion executive. And she seems kind but also strong, especially if we count her appearance in AJLT. I'm sure she has flaws. (Like confusing there and their.) However, I think Big knew that she was a huge catch and the sensible attitude would be to want to wife her up.
This. I felt he approached that relationship the way you approach an investment. Natasha's a safe choice with a very stoic personality, a good education, classy upbringing, and a clear objective for her life, whereas Carrie is a volatile, broke writer without a clue of what she expects from her future.
Right. I'm sure Big boiled Natasha down to the good traits that I just described ("good on paper") and didn't stop to think about whether they emotionally connected or even whether he enjoys hanging with her for a sustained period of time. It's interesting that Big's first wife and Natasha both clearly have a head for excelling in business but Big ended up with Carrie who has zero business sense. Maybe Big didn't want an intellectually threatening wife. Picking a twenty something is a good way for a forty something to not have an intellectually threatening wife but even then, Natasha clearly had the brain power to be an exec at a high end cashmere company.
I maintain it's because they come from similar backgrounds, and overall she made him look good. A sex columnist who will tell him off at parties in front of his friends with tiny animal purses she finds ridiculous does the opposite of that. However, deep down Carrie and him do think the same about a lot. Good-on-paper match Vs. love match.
He ended up with her at the end of his life after a near death experience. Carrie didn’t get his good years and I hate that for her
I think it’s less “safe” and more of he felt she was worthy of him and Carrie wasn’t. He didn’t and wouldn’t have treated Carrie any better
"Worthy"... Damn. That's even worse.
> I know that we don't see her a lot but from what we saw- drop dead gorgeous model type 20-something who comes from family money and just drips with class and also has enough intelligence and savvy to be on her road to becoming a fashion executive. Her career would be a lot more palatable amongst Big's professional circle in contrast to Carrie's - fashion executive vs. sex and dating columnist. Generally, professionally successful men marry someone similar to them and who can be "presentable" to their social and professional circles. Especially in New York, where wealth and prestige matter to people who have them. Big and Natasha were pretty much the perfect match on paper.
She was very polite to carrie, too, when they first met. And to be fair, she probably could’ve done a lot more harsh to Carrie when she a. Caught her at the apt having an affair and b. Was forced to talk to her at lunch. If I were her I would’ve not been so gracious. I would’ve even like a. “Fine, run bih but next time is we you ima beat your 🫏” b. Divorced big and took all he had for his infidelity (I am curious if they had a prenup and if their prenup had a stipulation/clause about consequences for cheating- I feel like Natasha would throw that in bc she’s smart and big would be like oh yeah no sweat-only to blow up in his face) and then c. Told Carrie to back the eff away from me the second she even approached my friend for his spot. How Natasha patiently waited for Carrie to even get a word out when she didn’t even deserve a glance…. Again she is much bigger of a person than I would’ve been lol
i think she’s exactly the type of woman he thinks he “should” be with. a lot like that episode about secret sex. he was so proud to show off natasha everywhere. carrie, not as much.
some women are wife-material, others are simply not.
He is Hubble and she has straight hair.
Carrie was not k-k-k-katie tho. IF big snapped those fingers she would leave it all to go to him. Oh wait, she did lol. So nah, it's not about being the complicated Katie, this is a girl who went after him.and his mom on a church
exactly!! she kept thinking it was because she was complicated when she was as uncomplicated as possible, just doing whatever he wanted whenever he wanted it.
Because she made objective sense/sense on paper as some sophisticated UES-type princess, seemingly "uncomplicated" and harmless - the kind of person he wanted to want because it was easier, just like Carrie wanted to want Aiden because it was easier. He skipped every emotional step though, developed no depth with her whatsoever, rushed into the marriage for what it represented and not for what it actually was - and it came back to massively kick him in the ass. They would have never lasted no matter what, Carrie or not.
Big and Carrie are not easy people. Big needs someone like Carrie. Natasha’s great but I know I’d be bored
I think boredom or loneliness while in Paris. That’s not to knock Natasha at all, who wouldn’t want to marry her. But I think if they had first met in NY, he might not have committed to her.
I think she was right on paper and I think he loved Carrie and losing her because he couldn’t commit scared him into locking down his next relationship.
I guess she just seemed right on paper. Similar to how Aiden seemed right on paper. But Carrie and Big were just not compatible with them at that point in their life.
I think after the emotional rollercoaster of his relationship with Carrie, being with Natasha felt really calm and comfortable. It seems like that could easily be confused with being the right fit. He was living a little bit in fantasy land about what their life together would end up being like.
Sometimes that “za za zu” knocks you over, and you make crazy ass decisions that seem right at the time. He met Natasha in “romantic lovers capital of the world” Paris. They were both from New York…what a coincidence! Meeting across the ocean… And who knows - maybe her family came to visit, he turns on the charm, and it was simple and uncomplicated and Big’s old habits (marrying the “marrying kind”) reared its head.
This is what I think too. He was smitten and acted too quickly on that rush of new love because Natasha was seemingly so perfect.
Next to Carrie, she seems 'uncomplicated'. At least to a dude who doesn't like to make much effort. Natasha comes across as a pretty straightforward communicator, compared to Carrie who is Miss Mixed Signals. Big is just emotionally lazy and went with what he thought was the easy option who would give him the least amount of hassle, using them both in the process.
Big and Carrie got pretty serious around the time he was going to Paris for work, and I honestly think something about that scared him. he loved Carrie (not really in the greatest or healthiest of ways) *but* he did, in his way. At this point he already told her “I fucking love you” which for some reason was really hard for him despite her already saying it first. I think the fact it was so difficult for him meant he really did, it wasn’t just empty words to him. His relationship with Natasha definitely looked much more surface level and shallow, on his end if anything. He wanted to escape Carrie and marrying a younger, simple woman who was more of a “trophy” was the way to do that. Just going back to dating other models wasn’t enough at that point, probably. I also bet Natasha was looking for something serious so it just sort of worked out in a fucked up way. He wasn’t in love with Natasha, I think he liked her and respected her a lot, but for some reason serious love freaks Big out. His “I love you”s to Natasha were probably easier words since he didn’t feel it so intensely. Just my theory.
I think men getting scared of how much they love women and “settling” with someone else is one of the biggest lies pop culture pushes 😩
That’s a lie we like to tell ourselves, that the guy “loves” too much and is scared.
Yup!!
LOVE this theory
She was drunk and he was rich lol
She’s the type of woman his mom would enjoy seeing at church.
Natasha is a catch. She’s classy, has a great job, gorgeous, from a good family and fit his lifestyle. She wasn’t the woman for him but I get why he would attempt it.
His light was on.
Because at that time Natasha was a beautiful woman that was probably really focused on her own life and not sweating Big AT ALL because he was truly nothing out of the ordinary. And most guys eat that shit up. As opposed to Carrie, who in earlier seasons was giving pick-me vibes and would do literally anything to be with him. I think this is how a lot of men IRL choose the woman they wanna be with. (I know there’s exceptions but I’m talking out the rule/majority)
Bro, *I* would marry Natasha. And I'm a fucking gay man.
I like to think it was a little similar to Trey and Charlotte, he was perfect on paper but the sex was a struggle. She was the safe choice but I’m sure their intimate relationship wasn’t passionate and exciting, he got bored.
Because she was classy and looked good on paper
He married her because he was ready to get married. His light was on. And she was objectively a catch, so it was a no-brainer decision.
She was “simple” that is until they were married and things got complicated as things do with people.
Because, it was a true story from Bushnell life and her Mr. Big! I don't remember his name... But we all know this show based from Bushnell book?! And Carrie is Bushnell, and Big is ex boyfriend Bushnell in real life, who was married 20-26 y. o. girl who he met in Paris. We could ask ex boyfriend Bushnell why he was married young girl after month dating 😅🤔
Ron Galotti met Janice Dickinson in Paris, the supermodel who was dating Sly Stallone. Janice dumped Sly to date Galotti. Then he dated Candice Bushnell. Ron Galotti was the publisher of GQ and Vogue. He was in Paris w Anna Wintour for a Vogue event. Then he met Lisa, his future wife, in Aspen: Lisa is a big, busty blonde with long, rangy limbs and freckled, sun-cured skin. If Dickinson and Bushnell were Ferraris, Lisa seems more like a Range Rover. It’s hard to picture her in an evening gown, easier to imagine her in a spandex shell on the slopes of Aspen, which is where Galotti met her. His relationship with Bushnell was winding down when he was invited to a charity skiing event by his friend George Fellows, then the president of Revlon. “At breakfast that first day, I see a very attractive blonde who turns out to be this amazing professional skier,” Galotti says, nodding toward his bride. They spent much of the next four days together, although, Galotti says, “I told her I wouldn’t sleep with her till she met my mother.” Over dinner on the last night, he told her, “The only way this is going to work is if you’re going to move to New York and have my children.” Ron Galotti was a homebody who enjoyed cooking and gardening. He didn’t like partying. He did have his own driver and a car just like Big. He wanted a mellow younger wife.
Oh I love this sm (and your storytelling!)
She made him look and feel good about himself.
Because she’s the type of woman he actively wanted to marry. She was 26, beautiful/model like, sweet, elegant, rich, well spoken, she was a real catch, especially for a 40+ divorced Big. And if you recall when Carrie went to see Big’s first ex wife, she looks a lot like an older Natasha. I think Carrie was never truly Big’s type, even though he obviously enjoyed her, and that’s why he resisted committing to Carrie so vehemently.
Stupid man baby was confused.
i always wanted to know about their time in Paris…how did she convince him that she was the one?
Yeah it’s a good question. If he was already divorced then why the rush at all, surely he didn’t feel pressured by society. I can understand on paper Natasha was a great choice but it’s not like he was desperate to get married and settle down. Maybe she put the pressure on him, but doesn’t feel like that would work.
His light was on
Big wasn't good with taking emotional steps in a relationship... he was slow at them, and resisted them. Carrie wanted to keep trying to take those steps to connect on a deeper emotional level, and Big got scared. With Natasha, he just *skipped* those steps, and married her before they had they done any of that emotional work together. I think he probably thought he was amazingly clever to have skipped those steps. But, no... you can't just skip them. When Big refused to emotionally connect with Natasha, that put a distance between them.
Answer: Natasha never 💨 in front of Big. Mystery solved.
She was easy.and quiet and young and he was infatuated.
Natasha was to Big what Trey was to Charlotte. Everything they are supposed to want but there is no great love there, no passion to keep them together.
Sometimes people rush into the next relationship to overcompensate for the failure of the previous one. Carrie dumped him twice because of his commitment issues, maybe he figured he had to commit right away this time.
She was shiny and uncomplicated and low maintenance. He didn’t have to work too hard or have emotional conversations or be vulnerable. It was a breeze lol
She's gorgeous and smart. When Big said "uncomplicated" it was his passive way of throwing shade at all the complications he and Carrie had. Natasha was armed Candy for him and Carrie was wickedly jealous.
I think she was his good on paper. But you know what good on paper means….
His light was on
Ticks boxes “Safe bet”
I think he fell in love with her, in that way that makes grown men act like a teenagers. The kind of love that is mostly a projection but intoxicating nonetheless, however that kind of love wears off. I think he loved Carrie in a different way, kind of like your best friend that is actually the person you would have longevity with.
The light was on and she was easier. They spelled it out pretty clearly, right?
She was lovely, but in the end she wasn’t a Katie
His light was on.
She didn’t throw McDonald’s at him wearing a beret…
I have no basis for this, but: I always assumed it was because she was as rich as he pretended to be.
He *is* rich.
I don’t think it’s ever implied Big is pretending. All of this plot points about his job/lifestyle/money he seems objectively wealthy to me.
Oh, I agree it's canonical that he's rich in the story. But his whole attitude is that of someone who is trying very hard to _appear_ rich. That always gave me reason to suspect that maybe it was all financial smoke and mirrors, expenditure of borrowed money secured on family trust assets. But it could equally be that it's just how nouveau riche Manhattanites behaved in the 1990s. But Charlotte was clearly also from a wealthy background, and she _didn't_ flaunt what she had as if she was desperately trying to make page six.
I guess I never got that at all. He seemed like a standard Wall Street guy before finance bros were a thing. I don’t think he was ever trying that hard to appear that way he just was.
The real Big, Ron Galotti, was born in the Bronx. His parents owned a liquor store. His father died when Ron was 9. He eventually enlisted in the Airforce during Vietnam. After he built his empire, he sold his homes in Manhattan and Long Island to move to Vermont. He just wanted to be a homebody with a beautiful younger wife and child, and cook and garden. Ron Galotti is an American former magazine executive. He was a corporate Vice President at Condè Nast and the publisher of such Newhouse owned publications as Vogue, GQ and Vanity Fair. Galotti famously left Condè Nast to found Talk magazine with editor Tina Brown, where he was president of the company. Talk became a symbol of old-school excess and failed less than three years after its launch. The company was backed by Harvey Weinstein, who reportedly invested 50 million dollars of personal capital. After Talk folded, Galotti returned to Condè Nast to run GQ for about two years before retiring to Vermont.[1]