Anthony Fauci was the inspiration for the “erotic hero” in a 1991 romance novel.
Well, well, well. It looks like 2020 isn’t the only year with a concerning case of the hots for Dr. Anthony Fauci. But while today’s lust stems from the NIAID director’s pandemic-related competence, in 1991 he played a slightly more traditional romantic lead: the inspiration for the sexily mysterious scientist (and paramour of the former First Lady!), Michael Lanzer in Sally Quinn’s bestselling novel Happy Endings.
Quinn confirmed Fauci’s role in her creative process to The Washintonian, and described how the doctor “just exuded charisma” when she met him at a Washington function while writing the novel. “What kind of person would she be in love with?” Quinn recalled asking herself about her protagonist, the former First Lady. “It would be somebody who was really brilliant, and compassionate, and kind, and decent, and honest. All of those things—and sexy.”
If the only Amazon review of the novel I could find is to be believed, Happy Endings is “a terrible disappointment. The characters are shallow and lack morality. How many affairs can someone have? The mention of God and Catholicism in such a depraved book is sacrilegious.”
Mike Pence, is that you?
[via The Washingtonian]
