Fabio ‘I’M R EADY TO BE AT 61' A DAD
THE ORIGINAL MALE SUPERMODEL OPENS UP ABOUT HIS QUEST FOR LOVE
It’s an image cemented in pop-culture history: a tanned, toned, longhaired Adonis, whose bulging biceps and swelling pecs are wrapped around a swoon-worthy, heaving-bosomed beauty.
Fabio’s Greek god-like image graced the covers of close to 500 romance novels, turning him into a bona fide icon. But while his smouldering looks and luscious locks left the pulses of millions of women around the world racing, in real life the Italian stallion has been admittedly unlucky in love.
“I’m still actively looking for that special someone,” the 61-year-old tells New Idea. “Someone who is confident in themselves and has themselves together. The last thing I want is to take care of insecurities for someone else.”
It’s a sad story for a man so synonymous with fairytale endings. Unlike the heroes modelled upon the hunk in the pages of hundreds of books, Fabio says he blew his chance at longlasting love with a woman he still considers to be ‘the one’.
“I still think I met my perfect match when I was 23,” he reveals. “Unfortunately, I didn’t realise it at the time. I was a bit too wild back then. I broke up with her after six years together and I still regret it. I tried to get her back, but she changed her number and never answered my letters.”
Another unfulfilled goal of Fabio’s is starting a family.
“I would love to have kids one day,” he confirms. “I want to show my world to my child. But I think it’s important to meet the right person first – I’m out there still actively looking.”
Born Fabio Lanzoni in Milan in 1959, the budding model moved to New York in 1980 to kickstart his career. Within 48 hours of arriving, he landed a contract with one of the world’s biggest modelling agencies.
“It was a very surreal experience,” he remembers. “I was an altar boy in Italy, who was always in trouble for breaking the rules and getting kicked out of school. All of a sudden I decide to drop out of college and go to the US – much to the frustration of my parents. And then I got signed and became the face of Gap. And that’s where everything started for me.”
An overnight success, campaigns and magazine
covers quickly followed. Yet, unbeknown to Fabio was his parallel career as a romance novel pin-up. Realising his images were being used to beef up book sales, Fabio told his manager and he soon signed a deal to release novels under his own name using a ghostwriter. And thus, his status as pulp romance king was born.
A few decades have passed since his pin-up heyday, but he’s still got his trademark blonde hair and sculpted muscles. So, what’s his secret?
“A lot of it comes from eating a good diet of protein and greens – I avoid cheese and sugar, minimising or not drinking alcohol, and reducing exposure to the sun.”
As a man whose entire career has been based on his looks, the ageing process – complete with the wrinkles and weight gain – is likely doubly hard for Fabio.
While he admits he would “absolutely” consider plastic surgery, Fabio adds: “But I live in Beverly Hills, and have seen a lot of people go down a path to stay looking ‘young and beautiful’ and the results have sometimes been disastrous!”
Thankfully, Fabio has some help in the grooming department
– his newly launched hair and skincare range, Aston James, which he developed with two young
Aussie entrepreneurs.
“I wanted men to feel as though they were opening a Rolex,” he says of the range. “But it also needed to be effective. We spent a long time choosing the best ingredients and have used a lot of Australian native ingredients, such as Kakadu plum, in the skincare.”