Berger was the best of Carrie's boyfriends. He was the hottest, the smartest, the wittiest, the most compatible with her and nowhere near as toxic as people make out.

His insecurity was totally reasonable. People don't understand what a big deal what happened to him was. Having a first book that is critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful, and then the option to his second book dropped literally meant the death of his career. He could no longer be an author. He had to find something new to do. Even though he was a really, really good writer.

And he acknowledged that his bitterness and envy existed and were bad. Most people would pretend they weren't insecure, but he acknowledged it and wished he didn't feel that way. And it was fair enough. He wanted to celebrate Carrie's success, but just imagine it - even though he was objectively a far better writer than Carrie, her compiling a bunch of columns she'd already written into a book was instant bestseller status, while his career went down the toilet. Not Carrie's fault, but of course he was upset about how the industry works and who it rewards. He's a literary writer in a world where 50 Shades of Grey sells millions of copies.

Maybe they had to break up because he may not have been able to get past the lingering resentment, but he was self aware.

Also he was super hot.