As life imitates art, it turns out Sex and the City and And Just Like That star Kristin Davis has had her fair share of dating horror stories in real life. The actress, best known for playing Charlotte York in the hit HBO shows, recently revealed a 'very successful' actor ghosted her after she lent him $5,000.
Speaking on her podcast, Are You a Charlotte?, the actress regaled the time she lent an 'out-of-work' actor a generous sum of money, only for him to completely stop speaking to her. How romantic!
She told her guest Sarah Wynter that the response shocked her. Apparently, Davis had noticed that the actor's house was in a bad state while they were dating, and that he was on the brink of losing his electricity. He had also 'wrecked his motorcycle' so was unable to attend auditions, so she decided to help him out.
'He was very talented, but, at the time, I had money because I'd been working,' she explained. 'It changed the dynamic in a horrible way... but I probably should have known better. So I lent him this money and then, you know, he stops calling. So I'm like, "What the heck?"'
In true Charlotte style, she went over to his apartment to confront him. 'I remember going over to his apartment and banging on the door,' Davis continued. 'And his dog was in there, and I loved his dog, and I could hear his dog. But I was like, "Is he in there and pretending that he is not in there?"'
As if the story couldn't get any worse, Davis then received a call from the man who asked if she had been the person banging on his door. 'I was like, "Well, yes". I felt so embarrassed, like I was being messy. I just would love some acknowledgement or whatever, which is kind of a fantasy.'
Sadly, Davis opted not to expose the identity of said 'very successful actor', but she did reveal that he lives 'out in the country with some children'. She also urged her listeners not to follow in her footsteps, calling the whole ordeal 'a horrible mistake'.
However, it sounds like a mistake on the mystery actor's part rather than Davis'. It goes without saying that ghosting the woman you're seeing, who happens to be more financially successful than you, after she lent you $5,000 is morally degenerate, crimson red flag behaviour. It's even worse then when Burger dumped Carrie with a post-it note reading, 'I'm sorry, I can't, don't hate me', in Sex and the City.
While, like Charlotte, Davis has clearly dated some wrong'uns, the actress clearly does not share her character's reluctance to lend people money.
In one frequently referenced scene from Sex and the City, Carrie is struggling to land enough freelance work and is in need of $30,000 to help pay the deposit on her apartment. Incidentally, Miranda worked out that she had wasted $40,000 on shoes. Yet Miranda still offers her $15,000 to make the payment, and Samantha agrees to loan the rest. Carrie then gets annoyed with Charlotte for not offering too.
The columnist then confronts her wealthy friend at her front door and Charlotte tells Carrie that it's not her responsibility to sort her finances out. However, she does end up giving her her engagement ring (post-divorce), so that Carrie can sell it and pay her deposit.
If only Charlotte had chosen part one of that approach with the famous actor... While we can't be sure of who he is, Davis has dated Damian Lewis (2003-2004), Aaron Sorkin (2012-2015), Russell James (2009-2010), Jeff Goldblum (2002), Alec Baldwin (2001), Liev Schreiber (2000), Scott Carter (1981 - 1982) and Mike Pulliam in the past. Now to work out which of them used to drive a beaten up motorcycle...
Nikki Peach is a writer at Grazia UK, working across pop culture, TV and news. She has also written for the i, i-D and the New Statesman Media Group and covers all things TV for Grazia (treating high and lowbrow shows with equal respect).