We got our man. Fabio seemingly fell to Earth in the ’90s fully formed, Italian beefcake on a clam shell: a 6-foot-3, 250 lb. model turned romance novel cover star (over 1,300 of them) turned I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter front man. He both defined the sexy-silly optimism of the decade and, in some ways, he never really left it. His hair forever blows in an ever-present breeze. If he was, as our cover back on Oct. 4, 1993 cover stated, the “prince of passion," he's now the king. After 43 emails, 11 phone calls, two public pleas on Instagram, and one promise to let him talk about how he sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber, Fabio sat down with us in person. And it was a lot: He tells us about sexy (and scary) times at romance novelist conventions, modeling for Gianni Versace, his Ferraris and butter money, why women loved him dressed as a pirate, if he’s had plastic surgery, his requirements for a girlfriend — and if that's why he’s still single. (Whew!) Oh, and remember when Fabio collided with a goose on a rollercoaster?

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