She’d played hard to get for years. But now, it was time — so what if it was in a convention center. She called to him. He rose, a red jacket covering his broad chest, hair swirling around wide shoulders as he moved. Then Fabio slowly raised one callused hand and said the words America had been longing to hear.
“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty …”
Yes, Fabio is now a U.S. citizen, the, uh, climax of a lengthy process that can take years to complete.
The Italian-born model, known for gracing the covers of countless bodice-ripping romance novels, took the Oath of Allegiance on Wednesday at the Los Angeles Convention Center, along with nearly 6,000 others from 140 countries, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
“America just got better hair,” agency spokeswoman Claire Nicholson tweeted Wednesday.
To become a citizen, Fabio had to be a legal resident for at least five years, demonstrate “an attachment to the principles and ideals of the U.S. Constitution” and show understanding of the country’s history and government, according to the agency.
Like any good suitor, he had nothing but praise for his new flame.
“This is one of the happiest days of my life,” he said in a statement posted by the agency. “Over the course of my career I’ve had the opportunity to travel the globe and America is still the greatest country on earth. There is no such thing as an Italian dream or an English dream but the American dream is alive and well.”
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