Dr. Anthony Fauci Was the Inspiration for a Character in a Popular Author's '90s Romance Novel
Dr. Anthony Fauci has been hot for decades — just take novelist Sally Quinn’s word for it.
Though Fauci has been director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984, acting as an advisor to every U.S. president since Reagan, he’s most recognized as one of the leading members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
In these uncertain times, many have found comfort in the 79-year-old silver fox — there’s even a change.org petition (26,000 strong) to make him People’s Sexiest Man Alive.
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Quinn walked so we could run. She recently told CNN that Fauci was the inspiration behind one of the lead characters in her 1991 romance novel Happy Endings.
"I had not met him before. I knew who he was, because he was the famous AIDS doctor," Quinn told CNN of her and Fauci’s introduction. "We just sort of immediately got into a very intense conversation, and I just found him riveting, and unbelievably attractive, and charismatic. I thought he was brilliant. I thought he was really sexy.”
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Fauci’s likeness appears in the sequel to Quinn’s Regrets Only as scientist Michael Lanzer, who carries on an affair with widowed former First Lady Sadie Grey whilst finding the cure for AIDS, as one does.
Important reference point — Fauci and his glasses in 1989:
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Good day.
