Bridget Moynahan says “Sex and the City” fans have stopped 'hating on Natasha' as they've 'matured with the show'

Moynahan's Natasha Naginsky was once seen as a pesky obstacle preventing Carrie and Big from getting together. Now, things look more complicated.

Bridget Moynahan can finally appreciate the wisdom behind the old saying that you either die a villain, or live long enough to become a hero.

"Over the years, people have found when they first saw it, they were hating on Natasha," Moynahan recently reflected on her Sex and the City character Natasha Naginsky to Swooon. But "as they grew up, they’re like, 'We were all Carrie at the time, but we should have been supporting Natasha."

Moynahan's character was on the losing end of a pivotal love triangle between John "Mr. Big" Preston (Chris Noth) and Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker). But during the show's initial run, Moynahan felt that fans wanted Big and Carrie to get together so badly that her character was seen as a mere obstacle, and her feelings were disregarded. "That’s just interesting that fans grew with the show and matured with the show," Moynahan continued. "I think that’s what’s kind of so great about the show coming back in a new form is that they’ve matured, and now you have a whole new set of fans coming up, and it’s just nice to see how it keeps growing."

Natasha was introduced in the second season of Sex and the City as Big's fiancée. Big and Carrie engaged in an on-again, off-again relationship, or what the kids today call a situationship, over the course of the first season. So when Big turns up in season 2 engaged to a woman he's only dated for a few months — a woman with the poise and refinement that Carrie feels she lacks — Carrie's self-worth takes a major hit.

Carrie and Big resume their relationship midway through season 3, despite the fact that they're both committed to other people. Natasha eventually discovers Carrie in her apartment with Big, chases her out, and falls down the stairs, breaking her teeth. The moment is humiliating for all involved, but Moynahan feels that at the time, Natasha was seen as the sole guilty party, for the crime of preventing the union of a fan-favorite couple.

"Carrie was wrong," she told Swooon. But "so was Big! Hello!"

Related: Rosemarie DeWitt and Ron Livingston hid from angry Sex and the City fans who would 'scream' at him over Berger break-up

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With the premiere of the Sex and the City sequel series, And Just Like That, fans who grew up with the show have had ample opportunity to reassess how they initially identified with Carrie, Charlotte (Kristin Davis), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), or Samantha (Kim Cattrall). However, Cattrall's Samantha only made a brief cameo in AJLT season 2, and the actress recently denied reports she'll be returning for season 3.

Related: Mr. Big's ex possibly returning for Sex and the City revival as Bridget Moynahan spotted on set

Several former Sex and the City guest stars and recurring characters have also recounted their jarring experiences with fan reception over the years.

Rosemarie DeWitt and Ron Livingston have said they would "have to duck into Magnolia Bakery or something because women would come up and scream at him" while walking around New York, due to Livingston's character Jack Berger breaking up with Carrie via a Post-it note. Others believed that Kyle MacLachlan really had erectile dysfunction, like his character Trey MacDougal: "There would be doormen or something like that would say, 'Hey, good luck man, good luck with that thing, you’re going to be okay.'"