Sure, the hours sometimes could be horrendous, and the jobs often entailed spontaneous arduous travel to distant exotic locations, but if that was the worst of it, I could handle that.
My career was going well, so I bought a three-bedroom town house in Eatontown, New Jersey, not far from my folks. I traveled so much the town house became a marvelous sanctuary for me, a place of rest and restoration each time I returned from another hectic nation-hopping trip.
Since I lived close to New York, it was only natural that television commercials should be a part of my portfolio, although my first national commercial was actually shot in Chicago. I appeared in a Christmas holiday ad for Sears clothing, presenting my female âlove interestâ a gift from under the tree. It was great fun, and the pay was fantastic. I joined the Screen Actors Guild and appeared in more television commercials, for which I not only earned a good paycheck but also received residuals, a pension, health insurance, and other perks. I never ruled out going back to law school, but my career was working out well, so I kept going with it. I think one of the main reasons for my longevity in this very fickle industry was the fact that I was just a regular-looking guy. I didnât do fad diets or work out constantly to keep my body buff. I was just me, an ordinary, approachable guy with whom people could relate.
Even my dad finally came to appreciate my success. At first, Dad regarded my modeling as some sort of sissy career, but when he saw how hard I was working, and how successful I had become, he changed his opinion. He was even proud of me.
I did a lot of work in Florida for a while, and didnât go back to Italy for a couple of years. But then one day I received a call from an agency asking me if I was interested in working there again. My four-year relationship with a woman from Indiana had recently ended, so I thought perhaps the change of scenery would be good for me.
Ironically, I thought I was done with that chapter in my life, but I chose to return. That decision proved to be one of the best choicesâand one of the most fatefulâI would ever make.
3
Bruna
W HILE IN MILAN IN 1996, I HAD LIVED AT THE GUISTI APARTMENTS for most of that year, but when I returned to the city in 1997, a flatmate from Australia and I rented an apartment at the Residence La Darsena, just off Via Vigevano, a main thoroughfare running alongside a canal in a historic section of the city. Over the next eight months, I worked consistently. I enjoyed the city and the Italian people, and met new friends. A successful modelâs lifestyle outside the work environment can be as frenetic as he or she wants it to be. Advertisers constantly hold events at which it is desirable to have âpretty peopleâ in attendance, so it is possible for a highly sought-after model to flit from party to party almost any night of the week.
I didnât do much of that. I hit some of the celebrity events, but for the most part I preferred hanging out with ordinary, everyday people like me. Some models I knew, as in any business, liked to put on airs, perpetually giving the impression that âIâm the best.â Others leaned more toward an uneducated, rough âpunkâ image; some were involved in lifestyles and activities that didnât appeal to me, and some were simply good-looking, athletic types. I preferred to hang out with the men and women who just wanted to make a buck, travel, and meet interesting people; I shied away from the unsavory elements of the fashion industry.
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EARLY IN 1997 my landlord in Milan informed my flatmate and me that we were going to have to move to another location in the complex because the corporate owner of our apartment planned to return soon. At first, we were not overjoyed at having to move, but the landlord made it all go as easy as possible. One day, my flatmate spotted an attractive young woman entering