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February 11, 2001 Transcript
His hair is golden.
His eyes, smoldering sapphire.
His body a playground of lusty desire.
(Shots from the romance video, shots from the
RT tapes (1992, 1993))
Fabio exercising. (We can watch that all day....)
Intrigue, longing and finally passion....
"I'm Fabio. I'm so pleased you decided to spend time
with me." (from the Time for Romance tape)
The man who changed the landscape of love.
"I got a 20 lb. goose right in my face."
"He's a wow! Fabio's a wow!" (Repeat that a few
times.)
"Please come with me to the world of romance. Where
every woman's fantasy can come true." (From the tape again)
"Oh, Fabio!"
... from the TNN valentines special OH Fabio
Born March 15 1961 - Milan, Italy Fabio (conquer)
2nd son, of Sorrel and Flora, Walter and Christina (sister)
Father owned a conveyer belt factory (and had planned
that Fabio would eventually work theer.)
Lived in the lap of luxury.
He was a beautiful child "If I wanted to meet women,
I would just need to take a walk with him" (father)
Mother "He was so sweet, so affectionate"
Brother "A lively child. Apretty independent
minded person."
In Catholic kindergarten - he "played Jesus
to the girls Mary Madeline" because all the girls wanted him to. Casenova
in training.
"He was happy playing doctor with the girls"
The teachers were not enamoured. "I was always a
pretty open kid. I would always tell what was on my mind." (Yes - he
still has an accent - Good! He has a beautiful accent!)
Teachers were not enamored of the young rabble-rouser
- he talked back a lot
Fabio: "If I don't agree with you, I'm gonna
tell you." (I can testify to that - look how he scolded me for drinking
decafe!)
"I had a lot of energy I was very hyper." Sitting
still on a bench was not his thing. (Worst thing you can do with a
hyper-active child.)
Fabio: "I was very active. I was getting into
verbal fights with the priests all the time. I was always in trouble.
Always. Always. Always." He shakes his head. Regrets?
He was an alter boy - where he was a "holy terror"
Fabio: "During the mass I was putting whoppee
cushions for the priests" Laughs.
At 14, had his first love on a trip to Kenya. "We
had three weeks. You know those Italian boys!" He laughs.
Back home, mischief intensifies. He was getting kicked
out of schools - 2-3 three a year.
Fabio: "I was getting kicked out of 2-3 schools
a year. Of course my father was, like, very angry with me."
To punish him, his father had him work in the factory
as the lowest laborer. "He was the last to show up and the first to leave."
Fabio channeled his activity into sports. In high
school, he was a shot put champion, and "the teen turned wild when he
revved up his motorcycle". Motorcross.
"He was doing dangerous things. He always made us
wait for him. For us he was the child of fears" (mother)
He hit ice during a downhill ski competition - the
blade of one ski caught him - resulting in a severely broken leg. Stopped
the skiing competitions for him.
(Shots of the young Fabio ran thru all this. Very
cute baby. Handsome young boy.)
4 months on the mend. Began lifting weights. He was
skinny at 17? Cute anyway. Became a fanatic body builder. His trainer
described how he built his body into something "fabulous". "Fabio was
born"
"For Fabio, the gym is a drug. If he does not go
every day and practice for a few hours, he goes into major withdrawal."
(father)
Fabio: "I was spotted by a photographer."
A famous Italian photographer got him started and he modeled for a teen
clothing line.
Father: "I wanted, that's is just the word,
I wanted him to become an engineer'"
Fabio: "My parents were very strict.
You are never going to lose a day for school because of modeling. That
was very clear."
He graduated from high school. He continued to model.
Then the Army intervened. (He hated it.) He is so
undisciplined, he even went AWOL (for three weeks) from the required army
service and was court-martialed!
Fabio: "Military is mandatory. Hello. In a
democratic country you should have a choice."
One day he showed up at home
Fabio: "The entire police of Italy was looking
for me for three weeks. They got my in Florence."
He survived, finished his 18 month service requirements
and went back to the modeling that had started before.
He went back to model - but was too big for suits
due to the weight training. He chose to keep weight training.
He met a model. struck up a relationship with her
and she convinced him to go to America. He packed up and told his parents.
His mother was envisioning her son as an immigrant.
(They were upset.)
He played at taking ollege classes. His roommate
would have to sing to get him out of bed in the morning.
Fabio: "I used to follow David's bike ------he
would turn right and I would turn left --- and back home into bed." (He
doesn't like to get up before noon.)
1983 - he ended the one relationship and went to
New York -
He was signed at Ford the day he arrived - in 48
hours he had a contract with the Gap.
(The day he dropped in "to leave a photo" at Ford,
he was spotted and dragged back in and signed. He does have the effect
on women.)
Fabio: "When I went to New York I had only
$3,000 in my pocket. Three weeks later I had an $80,000 campaign."
Levi's Jeans was next. He kept working out. This
killed his high-fashion modeling career.
Then he grew his hair out. Really putting paid to
the runway.
Fabio: "Everyone was a 40-regular and I couldn't
even fit my arm in a 40-regular."
He posed on video games and science fiction covers.
He started on "Live with Regis and Kethy-Lee" and
then he had a job on a cover."
"Enchantress Mine" - a slightly dangerous
Fabio was on the cover - small shot - and the editors were frightened
of him.
"Hearts Aflame" - they wanted him covered
up, shorter hair, shorted nose.
Covers lept off the shelves anyway and it was all
over.
Now they wanted him just as he was......muscles.
Long hair. That Roman face. (Many covers - short hair - had him altered
in looks. You really have to look. He has distinctive hands (larger than
mine - I have very large hands for a woman - full octave reach on the
piano - his are bigger.) His chin and nose - very distictive look.
And of course, those sholders and that chest....)
Kathryn Falk: "He loves women. He loves to
make love. He loved getting carried away on the shoot."
Fabio: "It was very easy work. You always
had to work you know with beautiful women. It's a hard job, but somebody
has to do it." (Fabio has a quirky sence of humor and of the outrageous.)
"He embodies everything you'd like to have in your
fantasy. I'd love to have him ride up on a horse and carry me off. Absolutely."
(the webmaster - me)
1990, 29 yrs old, 16 covers a day, $3000 an hour.
And the famous little black leather pants
"He put them on and the rest was history." Eileen
Duillo was the illustrator - who said that "those pants went through a
lot of covers".
For the "Prince of Midnight" - he posed alone
- that was almost unheard of. Him on a cover raised sales. They were tracking
that.
He signed with Avon books - 6 figure contract. (Upset
authors - he was the highest paid romance author - overrunning the industry's
stars.) His name, his "idea'. (ghost writer) and him on the cover. Sold
books. (He does not do them anymore.)
Beatrice Small for one. He got 20 times what a first-time
writer receives. As she said, "He posed. Bless him, he posed."
(Oh yeah. We can agree!)
1992 - Savannah Georgia - RT Convention - Fabio -
mobs of women for all over the world.
Fabio: "It was amazing. All those people
thought I was just a thing. An artists imagination."
Beatrice: "He was groped."
1992 - San Antonio - Fabio IFC started off in San
Antonio. Mobs.
RT 100th cover - Fabio - shirtless. (Issue sold
out)
1993 RT Convention - San Diego. (Where I met him)
He lost his serious girlfriend about this time (they
mentioned several during the special - but one was special)
Fabio: "She was the only one ever who got
a hold of my heart and my soul. And, you know what? And I ruined it."
He cheated on her - by "straying into someone else's
arms." That and the fans ran over her to get to him. (They can be ruthless.)
They would whisk him to tables in restaurants - and leave her behind.
In the fall of 1992, she called it quits. He did not want to get married.
He was having too much fun.
She only could take so much of that.
He was pitched for a 900 phone sex line - his first
manager was pitching too many wild things. Sleazy. He did not like it.
He did not want to be just a sex symbol.
He did not want to sell his soul. He wanted to get
into the movies.
1992 - left NY to Los Angeles with a new manager
(See the Dateline Story - plus news pages on the web for the
story about the lawsuit as it was happening.)
Calendar - first male model with his own calendar.
Fastest selling calendar in history. (90,000 copies)
He did a CD - "Fabio After Dark" he did not
sing - he spoke the songs.
Fabio: "It was very corny. No taste.
The embarrassment of my career."
Mediterannium after shave launched.
(Cross country promotions - fan club meetings too - and we all wore the
after shave as cologne. (If I can find it, I will wear it. again.)
The Acapulco Heat - T&A - "Baywatch in Mexico
"- He was a glamor part - shot posing for the opening - limited dialog
- not a great show (we all watched it anyway - living for a glimpse
of the Adonis playing the hoitel owner. If you ever see the episode wher
he was kidnapped. and they had a gun in the car with him, watch his face.
Not a happy person. Ann he was not acting. ) he was yanked by his
managers after a few episodes. It was not a place to showcase his talent.
(He didn't like the guns either.) Also, he was spread to thin.
(He still says this.) He was being flown back and forth all the time
from one appearance to another and then the TV set - and got burned out.
55 million paperback covers?
Fabio: "The world needs more love and romance.
Less war, and more love and romance"
Pirate came out "Raw - crude but politically
correct" - something about sheepskin condoms. Pirate came out during the
aids explosion.
Beatrice: "God bless him, he posed. He really
is gereogous, isn't he"
He had a line of hair care, did low fat yogurt ads,
tried to start a health magazine.
His Exercise Video came out. (Exercises good -
his costar was not - screechy voice. We watch it with the sound off.)
Time for Romance - vinettes. Lusty
segments. (Horrid. Bad writing. His words.)
Calendar - 1994 - "All Fabio." (my quote) (something
about I put this up in my bathroom....)
More meetings written up.
"I now know that there is a human being on this earth
that can walk and women fall at his feet." (friend) (Yes - as I said
- and someone objected to my saying it - he is an Alpha male. We
are genetically programmed to flock to him (his body type) and desire
his children.)
The TNN valentine special - he is reading love tips......(I
actually taped these)
1994 - million dollar deal for "I Can't Believe
It's Not Butter". The "commercial quadrupled the sales."
He did a butter tour - "Bedlam. Chaos. They were
like Locusts." (friend watching all this.)
Standups. Promotion.
Fabio: "Its overwhelming. People put you on
a pedestal. People adore you." (He has never figured this out.)
And of course, there are the "fringies"
as we call them. The women who feel that Fabio is the one man they will
marry and they just have to meet him to make that happen. And then they
set about stalking him down.
Fabio: "No matter where you go you're always
going to find somebody crazy."
There is a restraining order against one particular
fan.
Fabio: "Looney Tuney. Screaming." He describes
this one woman who found his eating place and came in screaming - (Note:
he is always ALWAYS near where he can have help in fending off these assaults.
Lest you get ideas. He is friendly. But he doesn't want to be groped or
assaulted.)
Then the geese bit was rehashed. (Lots of news
stories on the website about that.)
Everything else is on the website news pages.
So are a lot of the photos.
His mother wants him to get married and have babies.
His father just shakes his head at the fact that he has 85 motorcycles
in his garage. Not to mention the million dollars plus invested in an
audio-video complex that has been said capable of "wiring the moon."
His dogs are his childrem. He has two.
Anyone wishing to send letters to E! talking about
the show should send them to: تتتتتتتتتتتتMs. Emily Puk
تتتتتتتتتتتتE! Entertainment Television
تتتتتتتتتتتت5750 Wilshire Blvd.
تتتتتتتتتتتتLos Angeles, CA. 90036
It runs and runs and runs - just check your local
listing periodically - bet it will be back next February!
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