My beloved Renato spent years shielding me from the worst of the poison hurled our way — especially the bile spewed on a blog which brazenly uses my book’s title, Affairs Valentino, and is run by Tracy Ryan Terhune. I still remember his opening post, posing as me writing, “My Book, Affairs Valentino is Pure Fiction.”
Today, I opened an oddly titled folder on Renato’s hard drive — catture schermo (“screen captures” in Italian) — and found it overflowing with screenshots from Terhune's Affairs Valentino blog which I had never seen. Every one of them documented Terhune’s smear posts, meticulously saved.
I’ve long ago told the story of how David Bret extorted me into closing my original Affairs Valentino blog in 2011, threatening to open blogs in my family members’ names. Terhune seized that moment, promising to run a blog under the title of my book, “for the good” — but these screenshots show what he was really doing: running a dedicated hit site for his campaign to destroy me.
The flood of insults and lies upon lies number in the hundreds. In his comment section, he provides a platform for David Bret to violate a court order and run rampant. I scrolled through Renato's, “catture schermo” file, in slideshow mode, barely able to keep up with the sheer volume of attacks. And there, in living color I found the ultimate proof of their obsession with my book and with me personally.
Renato quietly collected it all, sharing some but never telling me the full scope. I realize now what a testament that was to his love for me — protecting me from the worst of it. But now I have it, every word, every fabrication, every grotesque twist of the actual truth.
Terhune has spent years gaslighting his audience into believing my responses were “unprovoked.” These screenshots prove otherwise. My god — they were provoked. Over and over and over.
In my opinion, after witnessing years of his documented malice conducted under my book’s title, it is a disgrace that this man plays any role in the public remembrance of Rudolph Valentino. He went too far. We had every right to defend ourselves. We courageously did. I still do. And now, thanks to Renato, the record will remain.
Below: Renato, preserving the record with steadfast love and vigilance.
