Fauci: Diary of a Celebrity
As the nation plunged into historic lockdowns and the economy ground to a halt, its top public health official busily documented his rise to international fame.
With Senator Rand Paul releasing over 1,000 pages of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s private diary, readers are getting an unprecedented look behind the curtain.
Many might expect the private reflections of the nation’s most influential public health official to be dominated by the scientific and public health challenges confronting the country. Instead, something else becomes evident.
Amid meetings, phone calls and official duties, Fauci repeatedly paused to catalogue glowing newspaper profiles, television appearances, and celebrity praise.
The pattern began on 20 January 2020, when television host Lou Dobbs called to say that President Trump would soon be in touch. Dobbs told Fauci he had described him to the president as the “smartest person” he knew and urged Trump to speak with him.
Days later, Fauci recorded that the White House had chosen him—rather than CDC Director Robert Redfield—to serve as the administration’s primary spokesperson.
“Bob Redfield just does not come across very well,” he wrote, explaining that Redfield rambled too much, so instead “they are putting me out on all the requests.”
The decision marked a turning point.
Fauci recorded the moment President Trump told him, “Anthony, you are really a famous guy,” before spending the next 20 minutes asking him questions.
Fauci wrote that he was “surprised and very pleased,” adding that those present “were clearly stunned and impressed.”
“All my friends kept saying I was a national hero,” wrote Fauci. Members of Congress told him they felt “safe in [his] arms.”
By late March—as the nation entered historic lockdowns and the economy ground to a halt—Fauci boasted that the “press is going wild with me.”
His diary increasingly resembled a scrapbook of his own celebrity.
He saved clippings about his childhood, his high-school basketball career and his personal life. He documented a petition to make him “Sexiest Man Alive” and even kept stories about “grandmothers who have crushes on me.”